Oticon Kaizn, the world’s first personal AI hearing assistant, has received a 2019 CES Best of Innovation Award in the Software and Mobile Apps category, and has been named a CES Innovation Honoree in the Tech for a Better World category.

The new, AI-powered tool brings personalised, human-driven hearing healthcare to hundreds of thousands of hearing aid wearers worldwide.

Just as Spotify recommends new songs based on a user’s past listening behaviour, artificial intelligence built into Kaizn learns from a hearing aid wearer’s listening preferences, habits, and environments to predict their preferences in a particular sound scenario and automatically adjust their hearing aid settings for an optimised listening experience.

Michael Porsbo, Product Manager at Oticon, commented: “Oticon is a pioneer in the use of artificial intelligence in the audiology sector, with a long-standing commitment to innovation and excellence in technology that improves hearing and overall quality of life for people with hearing loss.

“With Kaizn, we tap the full potential of data-driven personalized hearing care, using a combination of real-time local data, aggregated ‘big’ data and artificial intelligence to deliver a best sound experience.”

Kaizn collects and analyses data about an individual’s hearing aid use and listening environments to learn their behaviours and hearing preferences, and ultimately provide real-time hearing aid recommendations and adjustments.

The tool communicates with hearing aid wearers at key moments to learn their “intent” or what they want to gain from different sound environments.

For example, Kaizn will recognise when a hearing aid wearer enters a noisy environment, like a loud restaurant, and will contact the wearer, via a push notification, to ask whether they need “focus” or “comfort” in the scenario. Kaizn will then adjust the user’s hearing aid settings to reflect that preference.

Over time, Kaizn can automate adaptive changes based on the user’s feedback/validation and adjust the user’s Opn hearing aid settings automatically when they enter similar noise environments.

“Kaizn will support hearing care professionals in their efforts to engage and encourage patients to become active partners in their hearing healthcare,” explained Michael. “This ever expanding, ever improving AI-based solution and system will allow hearing care professionals to provide continuous added value that enables patients to optimize the choices they make daily that affect their hearing health and overall well-being.”

Oticon develops and manufactures hearing aids for both adults and children, supporting every kind of hearing loss from mild to severe.

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