On August 27, Starkey, a Minnesota-based hearing aid manufacturer, announced the launch of Livio AI. It is a receiver-in-the-canal (RIC) hearing aid that uses artificial intelligence to translate 27 foreign languages in real time. The new product, which Starkey is calling a wearable, also tracks both your physical and mental health. Livio AI is touted as a multi-functional device that combines features from wireless headsets, fitness trackers and health apps, and language translation programs.
The Livio AI also uses near-field magnetic induction system to wirelessly link two hearing aids in a bilateral fitting and uses directional microphones and artificial intelligence to classify the acoustics of a wearers listening environment and improve the signal to noise ratio.
More information on the Livio AI can be found here.
Signia Launches New Hearing Aid Form Factor: Styletto
Signia, part of the German-owned Sivantos group, announced their own new product on August 27. The receiver-in-the-canal Styletto. Signia says the Styletto is a new form factor, known as a Slim RIC. It is a narrow, pin-shaped lithium-ion rechargeable battery allows for the product’s sleek design, compared to the traditional hearing aid shape. The device comes with a portable apparatus that allows the device’s battery to be recharged.
Built on the Signia Nx platform, the Styletto offers Own Voice Processing (OVP™) as well as other advanced hearing aid features.
More information on the Styletto can be found here.
Its just a matter of time before we have the technology to re-present the incoming words in the perfect format so that accents, and inflections, mumbling are a thing of the past. But the idea of 27 languages may not have wide application since the ears hear and respond in specific (one) languages , one at a time. I don’t understand the direction this new tech is going. Does it just offer language presentation, one at a time, or does it immediate translate the incoming language , if it is one of the 27 spoken languages , into English? That would be a convenience to the traveler, or to the wearer at a multinational conference like the United Nations?