Starkey and OrCam Partner to Provide Groundbreaking Assistive Technology to Hearing and Visually Impaired People

Partnership Delivers a Single Solution to People Who Have Both Hearing and Vision Loss

Two technology pioneers, each with a rich history of helping people live more independent, healthier lives, have teamed up to break new ground in assistive technology solutions. Hearing industry leader Starkey, and AI-driven artificial vision industry leader OrCam Technologies, are integrating their trademarked technologies to help those suffering from both hearing and vision loss. The result is a single solution that pairs Livio Edge AI hearing aids to wearable OrCam MyEye devices via a wireless connection, providing both hearing enhancement and audio communication of the visual world to a user at the same time.

“Livio AI transformed hearing aids into multipurpose, connected health devices with integrated sensors and artificial intelligence,” said Starkey Chief Technology Officer Achin Bhowmik, Ph.D. “By using AI, we’re bridging the gap between a patient’s hearing health and their overall health and wellness. This partnership with the OrCam MyEye device allows us to achieve even greater success in our quest to help people live happier and healthier lives by enhancing and augmenting human perception and cognition with advanced technology.”

Starkey’s Livio Edge AI hearing aids combine industry-leading sound quality and sound processing for challenging listening environments. With a simple double tap, Edge Mode brings the power of artificial intelligence to a patient’s fingertips, by instantaneously conducting an AI-based analysis of the acoustic environment and making immediate adjustments.  

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Wireless and lightweight, OrCam MyEye is the most advanced wearable assistive technology for people who are blind or visually impaired. The finger-sized device delivers increased independence by providing access to visual information – communicated by audio – hands-free, as the device attaches to any pair of eyeglasses. Harnessing breakthrough artificial intelligence, OrCam MyEye discreetly reads printed and digital text out loud – from any surface – in real time. The device also recognizes people’s faces, as well as identifies consumer products, colors, money notes, and more – all offline, without the need for a smartphone or Wi-Fi, resulting in real-time audio communication while ensuring data privacy.  When paired to a Livio Edge AI hearing aid, the audio from OrCam MyEye is streamed wirelessly to the hearing aid.

“People who have both vision and hearing loss are often unable to find solutions that effectively address both of these limitations,” said OrCam Technologies Co-founder and Co-CEO Professor Amnon Shashua. “OrCam’s cooperation with Starkey represents an advantageous opportunity, demonstrating OrCam’s ability to apply the advanced computer vision and machine learning methods we have developed to transmit the visual world through audio, in collaboration with Starkey’s Livio Edge AI hearing aids, to deliver a true and total solution. This holistic technological approach provides the ability for those with both vision and hearing loss to access the world more independently.”

Patients may purchase the Starkey/OrCam technology by contacting their hearing or eye care professional, and providers may contact their local assistive technology distributor.

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