Announcements

Cilcare, a French-US biopharmaceutical company, has announced plans for a US clinical trial of an investigational drug candidate for chronic tinnitus. The company described the plans at the SelectUSA Investment Summit in early May 2026, and says this would be the first evaluation of the drug candidate, called CIL001, in tinnitus patients in the United States. CIL001 targets cochlear synaptopathy,…

LXE Hearing, the parent company of the Eargo, Lexie Hearing, and Go Hearing over-the-counter hearing aid brands, has begun winding down its US operations. The company announced the decision on July 15, 2026, stating that efforts to restructure the business and pursue strategic transactions did not produce a viable path forward. LXE Hearing was formed in March 2025 through the merger of Eargo and…

Nepal has begun providing Nepali Sign Language interpretation for live broadcasts of its parliamentary proceedings, the first time deaf citizens in the country can follow debates in both the House of Representatives and the National Assembly independently. Live interpreted broadcasts began on May 11, 2026. The National Federation of the Deaf Nepal, which had advocated for the change over a long…

Hawaii has enacted a law directing the state to develop a statewide plan on hearing loss. House Bill 1974, signed into law as Act 223 on July 9, 2026, requires the State Health Planning and Development Agency to conduct a statewide assessment and publish a plan for better diagnosis and treatment of hearing loss. The measure appropriates $100,000 for the work. According to the bill and supporting…

Advanced Bionics announced on July 26 that the FDA has approved expanded candidacy criteria for its cochlear implants, allowing more people with single-sided deafness and asymmetric hearing loss to qualify. Single-sided deafness refers to substantial hearing loss in one ear with typical hearing in the other. Asymmetric hearing loss refers to significantly different levels of hearing between the…

Google has introduced a sign-language-to-text feature that lets users sign to their phone's camera and have the signs converted into written text. The feature was announced at the Made by Google event on August 12 and is powered by a new model from Google DeepMind called SL2T. It launches first on the Pixel 11 series, supporting American Sign Language (ASL) to English, with the company stating…

Samsung received FDA clearance for a hearing aid feature on its Galaxy Buds on August 11th. The clearance allows compatible Galaxy Buds to function as an over-the-counter hearing aid for adults 18 and older with mild to moderate hearing loss, without a prescription or clinic visit. The feature works on the Galaxy Buds3 Pro and Galaxy Buds4 Pro and requires a compatible Galaxy smartphone. According…

A research team at UMass Amherst is recruiting adults to share their opinions on over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids. Participants will receive $100 for one 1-hour session over Zoom. Who can participate: Adults ages 40 and older who fall into any of these categories: Currently use hearing aids (prescription or OTC) or other assistive listening devices Are interested in trying hearing aids for the…

A research team is recruiting adults age 50 and older who have hearing loss and use voice calls with captions to take part in a study on captioned telephone services. The research is funded by the Federal Communications Commission and conducted by MITRE, Rochester Institute of Technology, and Gallaudet University. Participants will complete four brief captioned phone conversations with a research…

The Speech Accessibility Project is recruiting adults with any degree of hearing loss to participate in a research study aimed at improving voice recognition technology for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. The project is supported by Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, and Microsoft. Participants will record speech samples and answer questions online at their own pace, using a personal computer or…