The AI solution for noise that audiologists can depend on

This week, we launched the HeardThat Professional Program for the audiologist community. Following numerous discussions and demos with audiologists, hearing health professionals have shared that virtually all their patients have issues with noise, and they’re continually looking for new options to solve the problem.

The HeardThat Professional Program enables audiologists to support individuals who struggle to hear speech in noisy environments. By participating, audiologists can give hearing aid wearers a way to enhance the power of their devices when they are not fully effective in noise. It also supports patients seeking assistance with hearing in noise who are not suited for hearing aids.

This program now offers participating audiologists: 

  1. A perpetual license for HeardThat to use in the office

  2. An additional free license to provide to a family member

  3. Free units of future HeardThat accessories in development

  4. Technical support from the HeardThat team

AI comes to the cocktail party

Psychologists call it the cocktail party effect—humans' ability to block out unwanted sounds and focus on just the person they want to hear. Computer scientists call it the cocktail party problem because software has traditionally been terrible at doing the same thing.

That changed a few years ago with the advent of deep learning, a branch of artificial intelligence (AI). For the first time in decades, the tech world made real progress in algorithms to separate speech from speech. Deep learning provided a new approach to speech enhancement and it worked in lab settings.

HeardThat has taken that approach from the labs to practical reality. It is the only app that leverages AI to truly separate speech from noise rather than amplifying or reducing all noise, which has been the traditional approach. We’ve set ourselves apart using deep learning and the power of the user’s smartphone. 

HeardThat is personal 

Everyone’s hearing journey is different, and that’s why we created an app for those with and without hearing-assistive devices. The origin of HeardThat is also rooted in personal experience. HeardThat founder and CEO Bruce Sharpe noticed his father-in-law increasingly withdrawing from social interactions because his hearing loss made it too difficult to follow conversations. Upgrading his hearing aids didn’t solve the problem.

It didn’t take Bruce long to realize this was a common situation. Noise remains the most frequent complaint of hearing aid users. The Consumer Reports survey of hearing aid users states, “All the brands got low marks when used for one-on-one conversations in noisy places.”

“I have been working with AI and signal processing since the early part of my career,” said Sharpe. “Motivated by my family’s needs, I started Singular Hearing to develop HeardThat, a novel software solution for speech in noise based on deep learning. We invite the audiologist community to join us in helping people enjoy effortless conversations, whether or not they wear hearing aids.”

Francisca Viana