Listen Up: Using AI to Build Personalized Assistive Hearing Devices

A new partnership between Google and an Australian hearing coalition is using machine intelligence to improve the customizability of hearing aids and cochlear implants.
Cochlear hearing implants
Photograph: Cochlear

Earlier this year, Cochlear, the manufacturer of cochlear implants, announced a collaboration with Google and Australian Hearing Hub members, the National Acoustic Laboratories (NAL), Macquarie University, the Shepherd Centre, and NextSense. The aim is to improve existing hearing-assistance technologies, like hearing aids and cochlear implants, and to develop new solutions for folks experiencing hearing loss.

There's a growing awareness that it's important to protect our hearing. Nevertheless, the world faces a hearing loss crisis. According to the World Health Organization, more than 1.5 billion people worldwide live with hearing loss today (430 million with disabling hearing loss), but it predicts that by 2050, those figures will grow to 2.5 billion and 700 million, respectively.

By bringing together expertise and resources from across the spectrum of hearing research, technology, academia, government, and health care, this partnership hopes to make real breakthroughs in hearing technologies over the next few years.

Complete Customization

Although every person with hearing loss is unique, the industry has a one-size-fits-all approach with most hearing aids. Experts and people with hearing loss have long been calling for a more personalized approach. Google hopes to bring its AI and machine learning expertise into play.

“The idea is to be able to customize the experience for each person, and for the environment they are currently in,” explains Sam Sepah, lead accessibility research product manager at Google.

Photograph: Cochlear

Most people with hearing aids or cochlear implants struggle in noisy environments. While hearing aids amplify the sounds people want to hear, they also amplify background noises. Picking a single voice out of the noise in a busy restaurant or participating in a group meeting can be difficult. It requires a lot of concentration to understand conversations when you only pick up a few of the words spoken, and environments with lots of background noise, like a car or plane cabin, can be unbearable.

Google plans to apply artificial intelligence to this problem to better identify, categorize, and segregate sound sources. In simple terms, this should enable hearing aids and implants to cut down on background noise, making speech and other sounds the person actually wants to hear much clearer.

Another vital element is the fitting and personalization of hearing aids and implants. There is a large variability in how well people with similar levels of hearing loss can hear when using the same technology, explains Jan Janssen, chief technology officer at Cochlear. If we can better understand why pathways starting in the ear and going through to the brain vary so much from person to person, there’s scope for better customization to ensure that people get the maximum possible benefit from hearing aid technologies.

New Living Guidelines for Cochlear Implants

Work has also begun on international living guidelines to establish who should be tested and referred for a cochlear implant. As it stands, there is no standardized scale or test result that triggers a referral. This move follows research suggesting that just three out of every 100 people in the US who could benefit from cochlear implants actually receive one. Advice varies wildly, so people with severe hearing loss don’t always seek help, and they sometimes get bad advice when they do.

“Many patients who today would benefit from cochlear implants, that would be paid for by their insurance, don’t have access to the technology,” says Brian Kaplan, chairman of the department of otolaryngology and director of the Cochlear Implant Program at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center.

Many people worry about the expense; the misconception that you must be fully deaf is another barrier. Kaplan says there is an average 12-year delay between someone becoming a good candidate and actually getting a cochlear implant. Many folks struggle with deteriorating hearing. While hearing aids can ramp up the volume, a cochlear implant can also improve clarity of speech.

The societal costs of hearing loss and its links with dementia, social isolation, and depression are growing clearer. One study that tracked 639 adults for nearly 12 years found that mild hearing loss doubled dementia risk, moderate loss tripled it, and folks with severe hearing loss were five times more likely to develop dementia. The hope is that the new guidelines will result in more referrals and enable those who could benefit to get cochlear implants much more swiftly.

Fears over the surgery can also discourage folks, but Kaplan says it’s not brain surgery. It is an outpatient procedure that usually takes around an hour, can be performed with local anesthetic, and should result in very little pain. They make a 2-inch incision behind the ear to place the implant. The success rate is very high (less than 0.2 percent reject the implants), with most people reporting improved hearing and speech recognition within three months of implantation. As with any surgery, there is some risk. Cochlear implants don't work for everyone, the hearing improvement they offer varies, and problems can necessitate further surgery.

If you think you or someone you know could benefit, the first step is to visit an audiologist to get tested. Cochlear offers advice on referrals, and can help you find a hearing implant specialist.

Hearing technology is improving fast, with smaller, more efficient hearing aids, better cochlear implants, and improved accessibility options on devices like phones and earbuds. We have guides on how to stream audio to hearing aids and cochlear implants and how to use your smartphone to cope with hearing loss. You should also consider the best earplugs to protect your hearing from damage.