Talk Synopsis:

Transforming Hearing Aids into Multifunctional Communication and Health Devices with Artificial Intelligence

With over 1.5 billion people suffering from hearing impairments according to the World Health Organization, hearing aids are crucially important medical wearable devices. Untreated hearing loss has been linked to increased risks of social isolation, depression, dementia, fall injuries, and other health issues. However, partly due to the historical stigma associated with assistive devices and functional limitations, only a small fraction of people who need help with hearing have actually adopted the devices.

In this talk, the speaker will present a new class of multifunctional hearing and health devices with embedded sensors and artificial intelligence. With an extremely energy-efficient embedded deep neural network accelerator, these devices continuously classify sound with advanced machine learning algorithms, enhance speech and reduce noise, serve as a continuous monitor for physical and cognitive activities, an automatic fall detection and alert system, as well as a personal assistant with connectivity to the cloud. Furthermore, these devices stream audio from phones and other devices with two-day battery life, translate languages, transcribe speech, and remind the wearer of medication and other tasks.