Aiso for Hearing, created by AudioTelligence, separates speech signals from the surrounding noise, allowing a user to hear individual voices clearly. According to the company, the technology delivers an improvement in the speech-to-noise ratio (SNR) of up to 30 decibels (dBs), compared with just 2-4dBs for the directive beamforming technology typically found in hearing aids.
The tabletop device, compatible with smartphones and existing hearing solutions, uses a combination of patented blind source separation and noise suppression for a two-pronged approach to the cocktail party problem. The technology first analyses the acoustic scene, separating sound sources and isolating the voices of interest. It then uses noise suppression techniques to reduce the background noise. AudioTelligence also claims the device has very low latency (5ms), crucial for solutions that need to work in real time and avoid ‘lip sync’ issues.
"Our alternative very low latency approach separates voices from noise, improving speech intelligibility, whereas other solutions tend to just amplify sound from a particular direction,” said Ken Roberts, CEO of AudioTelligence.
“At the same time, Aiso for Hearing suppresses background noise, minimising the effort needed to follow a conversation and reducing listening fatigue. And if there are multiple conversations happening around them, the user can pick which one they wish to focus on, eliminating the unwanted speech.”
AudioTelligence’s own research found that around 80 per cent of adults aged between 40 and 64 find it hard to follow conversations in noise – with potentially over 200 million people worldwide looking for a solution. The company says that Aiso for Hearing has been demonstrated to improve speech understanding in noisy environments by up to 98 per cent.
"Our technology portfolio is the result of more than 12 years of research into the most effective approaches for extracting clean speech signals in complex acoustic scenes,” said Roberts. “This has enabled us to develop assistive audio technology to solve the cocktail party problem and help 200 million people worldwide to join the conversation."
