Technology Tech Specs

Tech Specs

3D

Custom-fit ear devices, such as earphones and hearing aids, can be three-dimensionally printed. Scientists have also 3D printed prosthetics for the tiny bones in the middle ear.

AI

Artificial intelligence, sometimes termed machine learning, is transforming hearing technology, such as in the software hearing devices use, the smartphone apps that work with them, and in clinicians’ diagnostic evaluations.

VR/AR

Glasses using virtual or augmented reality may soon allow you to look toward and focus on a sound and then enhance it, while lowering background noise. One prototype combines an in-ear monitor with an eye-movement tracking device to “zoom in” on a sound.

Tracking Data From the Ears

Roughly one in five Americans now wears a fitness or activity tracker, according to a January 2020 survey by the Pew Research Center. While today most are commonly worn on the wrist, future biosensors may make use of the ear because of its unique window into the body’s functions.

The ear is the ideal portal for data on heart rate, blood oxygen levels, movement, temperature, eye movements, skin resistance, stress hormone levels, and brain electrical activity, according to Poppy Crum, the chief scientist at Dolby Laboratories and an adjunct professor at Stanford University, in the journal IEEE Spectrum.

The ear canal has a shallow, rich, capillary bed which makes it suitable for noninvasive monitoring (like heart rate). Placing sensors in the ear brings them closer to the body’s core, giving better measurements for body temperature. And the ear is close to important signals such as brainwaves, eye movement, speech recognition, and head tracking.

Comfortable, unobtrusive, ear-worn biosensors may help boost medical monitoring of chronic conditions as well as general diet and fitness, along with larger crowd-based studies such as drug efficacy trials and noise pollution monitoring. —IDTechEx

Consumer Devices Get a Boost

Consumer earbuds today not only stream audio from smartphones and computers but can also amplify live sound. Could the chips that power these earbuds also run accurate hearing tests and help users compensate for mild to moderate hearing losses?

The answer is yes. The Belgian company Jacoti recently announced that its suite of hearing software technology—registered with the Food and Drug Administration as a medical hearing aid—can indeed run on the same chips used in many consumer wireless earbuds. (Full disclosure: I consult for Jacoti.)

In the near future, you will be able to buy new earphones and use them to take a clinically valid hearing test in any quiet room. The results will be used to personalize the sound of your earphones based on traditional audiological practices. Your audiologist will be able to access your hearing tests to fine-tune the sound to your ears.

While companies like Apple currently offer hearing personalization, it is based more on consumer preferences than audiology. Combining consumer hardware with audiological science and medical regulations promises to help make treating hearing more affordable and accessible. —Richard Einhorn

IDTechEx is a U.K.-based, business intelligence firm that focuses on emerging technologies. For its full report, see idtechex.com/hearables. New York City composer and producer Richard Einhorn is a well-known advocate for better hearing health technology and a consultant for Jacoti and other companies. For references, see hhf.org/winter2021-references.