NewSound unveils AI-driven OTC hearing aids

“NewSound has consistently focused on the application of AI technology in OTC hearing aids for years,” said David Yu, Founder of NewSound. “While some players in the industry prioritise cutting-edge performance, NewSound takes a balanced approach by not only advancing technology but also ensuring product affordability and consumer accessibility. By partnering with Femtosense, we can now bring these affordable and accessible hearing aids to market, offering a valuable option for those struggling with hearing loss.” 

Through its collaboration with the US-based AI pioneer Femtosense, NewSound successfully integrated Femtosense’s Clara AI Speech Enhancement onboard its products. Clara AI is a deep neural network that separates speech from background noise to deliver improved speech quality and comprehension. Clara AI runs all-day on Femtosense’s SPU-001 AI inference accelerator with sub-mW power consumption, achieved through 27x quantisation and pruning compression while preserving performance. With Clara AI, speech from any direction is maintained, while background noise is suppressed by 7-13dB in a broad range of different environments.

“People with hearing loss experience significant challenges understanding speech in noisy environments,” said Scott Reid, Co-Founder and Head of Machine Learning, Femtosense. “NewSound's OTC hearing aids will be the first in their category to deploy AI speech denoising to tackle this critical issue all-day on a single charge. These products showcase our thesis that compressing neural networks enables customers to deliver real AI into products that improve people’s lives. We are excited to make this technology accessible and affordable to all.”

“As an audiologist and industry expert with over 30 years of experience, I am thrilled to see the introduction of true AI noise-cancelling technology in OTC hearing aids,” said Dan Thomas, Vice President of Operations, Nano Hearing Aids. “By leveraging artificial intelligence, these hearing aids can now differentiate between background noise and speech, providing users with unprecedented ease of listening in noise. This is a significant advancement in making OTC hearing aids more effective and accessible to those with hearing loss.”

This feedback reinforces NewSound’s belief that AI technology will unlock new potential for OTC hearing aids.

Femtosense and NewSound will be exhibiting at AAA 2025 + HearTECH Expo Booth 902.