HEARING AID NEWS: the eyes have it
Audibel Hearing Technology of Prairie, MN holds a stable of 35 engineers in its research and development department, probably the largest in the world. Its current project may surprise you.
“We are working on various ways to make hearing aids more intelligent,” explains Dean Myer, software engineer.
“Audibel hearing aids are nanocomputers. Our work in directional microphones has revolutionized the listener’s experience. We are currently working on technology that aims the focus of hearing aid microphones using a contact lens.”
To engineer types, this is known as the Internet of things... putting sensors on objects and then connecting to the Internet or to a device like a smartphone app that you connect to the Internet. Once connected to the Internet various technologies like cloud-computing and machine learning processing can be done.
“Our team designs learning algorithms into hearing aids so our hearing aids can learn a listener’s preferences and behaviors in various environments and then automatically update the algorithm and improve the listener’s experience over time”, says Myer.
Audibel’s directional microphone technology is now available in its newest hearing aid, the A4, — yet the lens-focus technology is still about four years out. The A4 is available through NewSound Hearing Clinics in Houston. 1-888-796-4976.