The Future Of Hearing: How Technology Might Turn Us Into Superheroes

Have you always wanted a tiny device in your ear with which you can listen in to the conversation that’s difficult to catch due to background noise? Have you always dreamed about becoming the master of every language so you could get along anywhere on the globe? The latest innovations to hearing technology enable not only the improvement of perceiving sounds for the hearing impaired, but they have the potential to even turn humans into superheroes with superhuman capabilities in the far future. Now, listen carefully, here’s how science fiction is coming to our ears.

The age of hearables is coming

The appearance of hearing and ear-based technologies, such as headphones, earbuds, hearing aids, and many other devices that measure health parameters via the ear – with a common term: hearables – signify a new age for treating hearing-related health troubles. These devices can combine multiple functions, can be used for diagnostics or treatment, and often feature innovative solutions in style, color, and accessibility. Moreover, one estimate projects that the market for hearables will be worth more than $17 billion by 2020.

Thus, even the life of Thomas Edison, the great American inventor, would probably have taken a different course in the era of digital technology helping people with hearing impairments. Edison spent much of his life with little to no hearing from the age of 12. Although his condition did not hinder him from reaching incredible achievements, imagine how new technologies could have helped him make even more of his talents. Exactly how they could improve the lives of around 466 million people worldwide – 34 million children – who suffer from hearing loss today, according to estimates of the World Health Organization. Now, let’s put this new and innovative market under the microscope and look at what they can offer for people with hearing impairments.

Source: www.ieee.org

Smart apps and otoscopes for diagnosing hearing problems

Various methods exist to assess hearing problems and to detect early whether, for example, listening to loud rock and goth music has any impact on your ability to perceive sounds. Before you would think it doesn’t, ask Bill Clinton, who as a result of loud music, the use of hunting rifles, and attendance on loud political rallies, has trouble to follow conversations in crowded rooms and wears hearing aids now.

Thus, if you want to be certain that you don’t have any troubles with catching sounds, make that sure with your doctor during the next physical exam, or try a smart app for checking your level of hearing. For example, Hearing Test for Android and UHear, as well as Mimi Test for iPhone, could let you know whether you should go to your GP for a further examination.

Also, many types of smart otoscopes were introduced lately on the market to diagnose hearing problems. Some of those, for example, the CellScope, TYM Otoscope, and TytoCare’s specific product can be attached to a smartphone – so it can be turned into an otoscope with only a few moves. The user can take a photo or a video of any family member’s ear and send it for consultation to an otorhinolaryngology specialist. This is especially useful in the case of a small child or an elderly relative, as they are less willing to go to the doctor’s office than adults.

Source: www.newatlas.com

The ear is the new wrist

Current hearing care technologies mainly signify various hearing aids and cochlear implants supporting the hearing impaired or the entirely deaf. In the last ten years, they went through an enormous transformation: from basic digital devices hearing aids became multifunctional medical instruments – and it will only intensify in the future. Right now, they have access to the Internet, they are fit for iPhones and are able to scan the whole sound environment 100 times every second and reduce noise before delivering it. Experts also say that Bluetooth technology will become a standard feature of hearing aids soon, especially since Apple has patented specific Bluetooth connectivity for hearing aids to connect to its iOS platform.

The more general trend here is that the latest devices improving hearing problems move from a simple medical instrument focusing on solving one issue to a complex ‘digital assistant’ carrying out tasks that might go way beyond ‘just’ correcting hearing, but changing the perception of the environment or offering services that were way out of their territory before, resulting in people with hearing aids becoming superheroes with sci-fi-like characteristics in the future.

For example, while the simple innovation, TV Ears, helps people with hearing loss hear the television clearly without turning up the volume, in March 2019, Starkey Hearing Technologies introduced a hearing aid on the market which is able to measure physical activity and detect falls. Starkey is also working on advanced sensors, such as a heart rate sensor, pushing hearing aids towards the health and wellness terrain, turning the ear into the new wrist, metaphorically speaking.

Source: www.wired.com

The marriage of artificial intelligence and hearing aids

The Livio AI, as Starkey Hearing Technology’s new device is called, uses tiny sensors, plus, as its name suggests, artificial intelligence to selectively filter noise and focus on specific sound sources - for instance, the person across the table in a busy restaurant - while also tracking various health metrics, including steps walked, stairs climbed, and cognitive activity, such as how much the wearer is talking and engaging with other humans. It also does near-instantaneous translation of 27 languages and will, after a forthcoming update, measure heart rate. Starkey Hearing, the company that helped U.S. presidents, Nelson Mandela, or Mother Teresa hear better, is a leading innovator in the field, but others are also catching up quickly.

Similar to Livio AI, Nuear’s hearing aid coupled with its so-called Circa AI promises both superior sound quality and the ability to act as a wearable device tracking vital signs and brain health. Plus, featuring integrated sensors and artificial intelligence, it also vows to detect if the wearer has fallen and to act as an assistant. In addition, according to a report from Hearing Tracker, one of the best integrations of hearing aids and A.I. is the SoundSense Learn technology for Widex EVOKE hearing aids. SoundSense Learn is an app that allows users to adjust the settings on their hearing aids based on their environment.

Naturally, as artificial intelligence and digital assistance are involved, big tech companies also appeared on the scene. A new Google system might soon be able to isolate a speech signal among a plethora of other voices and background sounds. This type of A.I. would be a huge leap forward for hearing technology and allow those with hearing loss to hear someone speaking to them much more easily, no matter what the environment.

Further down the line, hearing aids might be able to connect to the world wide web without the need for a smartphone, and every manufacturer could turn the medical device into a translation machine. At that point, we could easily imagine that not only people with hearing loss but everyone would want a device like that. Can you envisage the little bug in your ear helping you buy baklava in an Istanbul market or speak to the Korean sales representative of your company without the need for a human interpreter? Of course, you can! Besides, due to the constant aim of sustainability in resource use, companies developing hearing aids might come up with devices only using body heat or kinetic power generation in the future.

Source: www.audiologyonline.com

The common denominator of jewelry and Botswana

Another discernible trend when looking at hearing aids and cochlear implants fits into a more general tendency of creating healthcare devices with consideration for design. The objective of medical tools for personal use started to go beyond measuring health parameters and vital signs, offering accurate, as well as easy and patient-friendly measurements. Lately, they are also coupled with aesthetic appearance. Elements of design thinking and UX have become an ever more organic part of product development – and that’s also visible when looking at hearables.

The trend also allows getting rid of societal stigmas bound with medical devices. Millions of people don’t want to wear hearing aids because it’s connected to aging and is perceived as being more dependent while signaling that the body is letting one down. However, it is totally different if someone is wearing a non-detectable, jewelry-like, beautiful piece of object. It gives you the confidence of hearing normally and being fashionable. For example, Julia Marian Cunha created a hearing aid, OH, that is both a fashion accessory – making the wearer confident and stylish at the same time. And look at the Australian team which unveiled Facett, a unique, patient-friendly and low-cost hearing aid inspired by crystals, last year!

Botswana-based Deaftronics attempts to tackle another aspect of how to make technology more accessible to people. It has manufactured the first solar-powered hearing aid unit, Solar Ear, in a country where there are only 12 audiologists and five audiology centers for a population of over two million. Each Solar Ear unit includes a digital hearing aid, a solar battery charger, and four rechargeable batteries. The batteries can also be used in 80 percent of hearing aids currently present in the market. This invention reduces the number of visits patients are typically required to make to care centers in Africa, Brazil, China, India, or Singapore.

Source: www.quartz.com

And what to expect in the future?

Beyond smartphone apps, various add-ons turning phones into otoscopes, hearing aids and cochlear implants turning into design items while bestowing humans with superhuman capabilities, genetics and CRISPR could appear on the scene as a tool for changing the treatment of hearing impairment forever.

Lately, there has been news about a Russian scientist, who is working with a deaf couple who want him to prevent a planned child from inheriting their condition by neutralizing defective GJB2 genes during artificial insemination. While many scientists and bioethicists believe that it is way too soon to experiment on human embryos with the gene-editing method, there might be a future, decades from now, when people won’t have any hearing problems, won’t need hearing aids or cochlear implants as their condition would have already been taken care of before birth. What a bright future would that be! Don’t you think?

Dr. Bertalan Mesko, PhD is The Medical Futurist and Director of The Medical Futurist Institute analyzing how science fiction technologies can become reality in medicine and healthcare. As a geek physician with a PhD in genomics, he is a keynote speaker and an Amazon Top 100 author.

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