Digital Signal Processing for Over-The-Counter Hearing Aids

I wrote a whitepaper looking at the principles of digital signal processing, algorithms,and software that improve hearing for people with hearing loss. This article is intended as an introduction. The complete whitepaper is available for download. The inspiration for this whitepaper comes from the World Health Organization's recent World Report on Hearing (WHO), which shows that 1.5 billion people worldwide have some degree of hearing loss and 430 million people need rehabilitation services. Shockingly, less than 3% (on average worldwide) use hearing aids.

If you are an audio industry professional, unless you have been on holiday on some remote island without Internet, you must have noticed that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) finally issued the long-expected rule establishing Over-the-Counter (OTC) hearing aids - five years after the original OTC hearing aid act was signed into law on August 18, 2017. Will hearing aid companies really adjust and understand "consumer" behaviors? How do hearables fit in that environment? Could these products be influenced by "brand loyalty"?

Making Audio Augmentation useful for everyone, or pursue the regulatory requirements of OTC hearing aids. This article offers a useful perspective regarding the guidance documents published by the US Food and Drug Administration regarding improved access to hearing aid technology. The agency proposes a rule to establish a new category of over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids - to be sold directly to consumers in stores or online without a medical exam or a fitting by an audiologist. But most audio manufacturers are better off by not pursuing this FDA-approved OTC market. Doing so will simply hinder critical experimentation and innovation.

After surprising everyone at CES 2020 with the introduction of the Virto Black, a fully-connected in-the-ear (ITE) hearing aid that combines the breakthrough Marvel hearing technology with the style of a modern hearable, health care brand Phonak is challenging perceptions of hearing aids once again with the world premiere of the new Naída Marvel advanced hearing aid, expanding Bluetooth connectivity and featuring Marvel 2.0 technology including RogerDirect.