Starkey announced that it is partnering with AI-driven artificial vision company OrCam Technologies to integrate their trademarked technologies to help those suffering from both hearing and vision loss. The result is a single solution that pairs Livio Edge AI hearing aids to wearable OrCam MyEye devices via a wireless connection, helping to provide “both hearing enhancement and audio communication of the visual world to a user at the same time.”
“Livio AI transformed hearing aids into multipurpose, connected health devices with integrated sensors and artificial intelligence,” said Starkey Chief Technology Officer Achin Bhowmik, PhD. “By using AI, we’re bridging the gap between a patient’s hearing health and their overall health and wellness. This partnership with the OrCam MyEye device allows us to achieve even greater success in our quest to help people live happier and healthier lives by enhancing and augmenting human perception and cognition with advanced technology.”
Livio Edge AI hearing aids combine “industry-leading sound quality and sound processing for challenging listening environments,” according to Starkey. With a double tap, Edge Mode helps bring “the power of artificial intelligence to a patient’s fingertips, by instantaneously conducting an AI-based analysis of the acoustic environment and making immediate adjustments.”
Said to be “wireless and lightweight,” OrCam MyEye is an “advanced wearable assistive technology” for people who are blind or visually impaired. The finger-sized device helps provide access to visual information—communicated by audio—hands-free, as the device attaches to any pair of eyeglasses. By harnessing artificial intelligence, OrCam MyEye “reads printed and digital text out loud—from any surface—in real time,” the company says. The device can also recognize people’s faces, as well as identify consumer products, colors, money notes, and more, all offline, without the need for a smartphone or Wi-Fi, resulting in “real-time audio communication while ensuring data privacy.” When paired to a Livio Edge AI hearing aid, the audio from OrCam MyEye is streamed wirelessly to the hearing aid.
“People who have both vision and hearing loss are often unable to find solutions that effectively address both of these limitations,” said OrCam Technologies Co-founder and Co-CEO Professor Amnon Shashua. “OrCam’s cooperation with Starkey represents an advantageous opportunity, demonstrating OrCam’s ability to apply the advanced computer vision and machine learning methods we have developed to transmit the visual world through audio, in collaboration with Starkey’s Livio Edge AI hearing aids, to deliver a true and total solution. This holistic technological approach provides the ability for those with both vision and hearing loss to access the world more independently.”
Patients may purchase the Starkey/OrCam technology by contacting their hearing or eye care professional, and providers may contact their local assistive technology distributor.
For more information on Livio Edge AI, click here. For more information on OrCam MyEye, click here.
Source: Starkey, OrCam Technologies
