How Sonova sees the future of hearing aid technology

For the longest time, hearing aid technology has been all about amplifying the right sounds so that people with hearing loss can better understand conversations and the other sounds that are part of everyday living. But the future may be somewhat different, according to the interview with Stefan Launer.

Launer believes that future progress may be more about noise reduction and less about sound amplification. He sees a growing need for specialist devices that actively protect fragile ears against damaging levels of noise but that still enable users to communicate effectively. Talking about noise-cancelling headphones, he says that, “You can miniaturize them and put them in the ear; that would be the future vision. Think of all the commuters on public transport, buses, and at train stations. I think the relief from noise would be wonderful.”

According to the article, rising environmental noise levels, especially in the urban setting, are straining the human hearing system because of the loudness but also because of the multiplicity of confusing sounds that we are exposed to. Sonova hopes to respond to this growing need for noise-protection technology, while also using it to improve hearing aids. Launer says that the conventional assumption that hearing loss is about not hearing soft sounds is evolving and that difficulty distinguishing between louder sounds may be as much a part of the problem to address.

Source: Financial Times