About the Hearing Matters Podcast
 
The Hearing Matters Podcast discusses hearing technology (more commonly known as hearing aids), best practices, and a growing national epidemic - Hearing Loss. The show is hosted by father and son - Blaise Delfino, M.S., HIS, and Dr. Gregory Delfino, CCC-A. Blaise Delfino and Dr. Gregory Delfino treat patients with hearing loss at Audiology Services, located in Bethlehem, Nazareth, and East Stroudsburg, PA.

The Benefits of Deep Neural Networks in Hearing Aids

In this episode, Blaise Delfino discusses the deep neural network in the new Oticon More hearing aid with Dr. Douglas L. Beck, vice president of academic sciences at Oticon. 

Dr. Beck explains that in Oticon’s newest hearing aid, the Oticon More, there is a deep neural network, or DNN, which enables a wearer to have an even better hearing experience than before.  He explains that artificial intelligence (AI) is as simple as a thermostat in the refrigerator. It senses when it needs to adjust the temperature and then does so. 

DNN is a much more sophisticated form of AI. It learns in the same way the human brain does. It’s used in a variety of everyday tasks, for example buying something on Amazon. Once you buy a certain item, Amazon will let you know when similar items become available. The general idea of a DNN is that it learns through repetitive action from a collection of samples. 

In a hearing aid, the DNN is trained with millions of real-life sound scenes – a restaurant, train station or busy street. The DNN learns to identify and balance each sound within it, so the wearer can access the sounds most important to you.

The Oticon More was trained with 12 million complex real-life sound, which it then learned to analyze, organize, and balance. This hearing device can utilize the DNN’s intelligent capabilities when balancing and prioritizing the sounds that are important to the wearer.

The benefit of the DNN is that the wearer’s brain has access to the full sound scene, so he/she can hear the person next to him/her, as well as other environmental sounds, all balanced and amplified in a true-to-life way.

This is because a DNN provides the brain with more meaningful sound information, which makes sound much clearer and speech easier to follow. In fact, research shows that Oticon More delivers 30 percent more sound to the brain and increase speech understanding by 15 percent. 

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