Announcements

A baby from Palm Desert became the first pediatric patient in California and an early adopter of the newly approved "NEXA" cochlear implant designed for very young children. The surgery was performed after the device recently received authorization for pediatric use, allowing implantation at an earlier age than any previous models. The clinicians involved described the procedure as a beginning…

Smart glasses are being positioned as a developing consumer technology category, shaped by incremental improvements in AI, cameras, audio systems, and on device processing. Products such as Meta’s Ray Ban smart glasses provides hands free photo and video capture, voice calls, audio playback, and AI driven functions like translation and voice interaction. Other concepts in the market include sport…

YouTube has rolled out a new caption style called "Expressive Captions" for English language videos, aimed at conveying more context from audio without changing the underlying speech content. The captions reflect tone and intensity through formatting choices such as capitalization and include descriptions of non-speech sounds like laughter, applause, sighs, or background noise. According to…

A new article from Verge frames Auracast as one of the most promising Bluetooth advances in years that has not reached its "moment." Not because the technology is lacking, but because companies are failing to market it in a clear, unified way. The opinion piece by Higgins presents Auracast as a quietly powerful tool that could transform accessibility for people with hearing loss and simplify how…

Fortell is a new hearing-aid startup featured in Wired for its use of advanced artificial intelligence to solve one of the hardest problems in hearing care, understanding speech in noisy environments. Fortell claims their device uses spatial AI and custom hardware to separate voices from background noise in real time, and early testers report being able to follow conversations in loud restaurants…

The FDA has expanded approval of MED-EL cochlear implants for use in infants as young as seven months old with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss who receive limited benefit from hearing aids. This makes MED-EL the youngest-age cochlear implant indication currently cleared in the United States. The decision was based on pediatric data from 123 children aged 7 to 71 months, where about 81 to 88…

A recent study suggests that even mild hearing loss may be an early warning sign for Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers used data from the Framingham Heart Study to compare hearing test results, brain imaging (MRI), and cognitive testing over time. They found that participants with even slight hearing loss showed faster accumulation of white-matter abnormalities and declines in executive brain…

Scientists at Northwestern Medicine found that the inner hair cell plays an active role in building the structure of the hearing organ during development. In mice, the hearing organ is arranged in a precise pattern of sensory and supporting cells, and the study showed that inner hair cells help guide how several supporting cells form and where they settle. These cells promote the development of…

The FCC is seeking public comments on proposals that would accelerate the transition to ATSC 3.0, or “Next Gen TV,” which supports more advanced accessibility features than today’s ATSC 1.0 broadcasts. The agency wants feedback on whether existing accessibility rules need updates for ATSC 3.0, whether broadcasters and device makers should be required to offer features like multiple audio tracks,…

A review published in the MDPI Journal examines tech used in auditory rehabilitation outside of traditional hearing aids and cochlear implants. From 141 studies published between 2018 and 2024, the authors identified 16 frequently used tools such as mobile apps, telehealth platforms, FM systems and vibrotactile devices. The meta-analysis found that telehealth and app-based tools supported remote…