Expert insights: The future of hearing aids

"Hearing aids are not like glasses."

That's one of the phrases Miracle-Ear audiologist and product marketing specialist Dr. Alitta Boechler uses to help clients understand the function and capabilities of hearing aids. 

You put on glasses to restore your vision to what it was before you needeed the correction. But that's just not how hearing loss works. 

"Hearing aids are never going to be like natural hearing in terms of what people might have experienced," Boechler says. "As you lose your hearing, your ears permanently change, so making sounds louder isn't always enough. It's about making the right sounds louder at the right time," she says.

This is why Boechler is so enthusiastic about new and emerging hearing aid technology, like artificial intelligence and deep neural networks. 

"I think what's really exciting about AI [artificial intelligence] in our hearing aids is that we are using it to help making listening easier in [noisy environments], and also to help make speech clearer in ways that we couldn't before with a microphone picking up sound and making it louder," she says.

Deep neural networks (DNN) are a subset of machine learning, which is a form of artificial intelligence (AI) that allows computers to learn without being programmed. These continually evolving technologies are revolutionizing how hearing aids process sound. 

When hearing loss occurs, people often struggle to understand speech, especially in settings with a lot of extraneous noise or competing conversations. Older models of hearing aids did their best to filter out noise by amplifying sound coming from in front of the wearer and muffling any noise coming from behind. 

While this is useful when standing directly in front of the person you’re trying to hear, it can’t replicate how we listen in real life, where speech is often coming from different angles, and conversation happens in noise-filled spaces. 

It’s in situations like these where AI, and DNN in particular, shine. Instead of trying to dampen noise and amplify speech, DNN-enabled hearing aids can learn and adapt to different listening environments, isolating and enhancing speech while pushing ambient noise into the background. 

“When using deep neural networks, our brain does a lot of the work in terms of filling in gaps and things that you might miss,” Boechler says. “The DNN in the hearing aids is trying to mimic some of what the brain is doing to pull out those speech cues and figure out what’s noise and what’s not noise.” 

If you need extra help, you can activate M-E Mode+, a "turbo" feature that scans your surroundings and further adjusts the hearing aid settings to optimize speech or reduce noise depending on your app settings. This ensures that no matter where you go, you can stay engaged and connected with your environment.

DNN-enabled hearing aids eliminate the need to press buttons and manually set programs for different environments. It frees wearers to move seamlessly in and out of environments while being able to fully participate in conversations. 

“It’s doing a lot of the thinking for you in a really exciting way,” Boechler says. “It’s a huge jump forward from even five years ago.” 

While AI represents a massive leap forward in hearing aid advancements, Boechler is also looking forward to the advancement of other technologies that will lead to better hearing—and quality of life—for wearers. 

One of these technologies is Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) Audio (named because it operates on Bluetooth Low Energy radio, which demands less energy to function). The technology is set to be incorporated into many of the devices we use daily within the next several years. What makes this exciting is that it is specifically designed to support hearing aids and can seamlessly connect multiple devices to almost anything that transmits sound—including public address systems. 

“Imagine you go to your gate at the airport, and you can connect your hearing aids to your gate. Then, all the announcements go directly to your ear and cut out all that noise,” Boechler says. 

High-tech hearing aids are here to stay, and they represent dramatic improvements in users’ hearing. At the same time, Boechler highlights the importance of personalization, customization and even some experimentation in finding the right hearing aid style and settings for your unique situation. 

“Each person has a fit that’s exactly right for their ear,” she says. “Hearing loss is different from person to person. What you can hear and what you can’t hear varies greatly across pitch and loudness levels, and your ear is physiologically different from everyone else’s.”

All these factors are personal, and adjustments can be made in-person with your hearing care professional (HCP) to ensure that cutting-edge hearing aid technology works for you and your unique ears. 

“At the end of the day, it comes down to the HCP,” Boechler says. “A well-fit hearing aid is going to perform well for anyone. So with the right technology and our knowledgeable fitting in the store, it’s a great combination of powerful technology applied the right way.”

Hearing loss affects one’s ability to hear, but it can also affect mental and emotional health, your social life and the ability to participate fully in society. Each of these advances in hearing aid technology represents a significant step forward in addressing these issues—and potentially improving depression, anxiety and social isolation—making life better and more fulfilling for hearing aid wearers. 

“I’m really excited for the next few years because it’s going to continue to get better,” Boechler says. “Even though hearing aids aren’t like glasses, the more we can help people listen in challenging environments, the more that they’ll feel connected to the people around them.”