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AI innovation in hearing
care must accelerate as 2.5
billion face hearing loss by
2050
(DUBAI)
- With nearly 2.5 billion
people projected to have
some degree of hearing loss
by 2050, as per the World
Health Organization,
Starkey MEA is calling
for faster adoption of
AI-enabled hearing
innovation that delivers
practical, measurable
improvement for patients in
real-world environments.
AI is reshaping what
hearing aids are expected to
do. The category is moving
beyond basic amplification
toward systems that can
interpret complex
soundscapes, prioritize
speech, and personalize
output moment by
moment—especially in noise,
multi-speaker settings, and
fast-changing environments.
Starkey says this shift
demands on-device
intelligence that is fast,
power-efficient, and
clinically meaningful,
rather than “AI” that lives
mainly in marketing
language.
“Talking
about AI is easy. Delivering
AI that makes hearing
clearer when life is noisy,
and that does it reliably
all day, is the real
standard,” said
Giscard Bechara, Regional
Director, Middle East &
Africa, Starkey MEA.
“With the scale of hearing
loss projected globally,
innovation can’t crawl. In
MEA, our focus is to bring
on-device intelligence that
adapts in real time to the
person and the
environment—because that is
what patients actually feel.
We will also be introducing
a new AI-driven hearing
solution in the region soon,
and we look forward to
sharing what this next step
means for hearing
professionals and the
communities they serve
across the Middle East and
Africa.”
As part of a
wider drive to promote
hearing health awareness
across the Middle East,
Starkey MEA has highlighted
how AI-led hearing
technology can be engineered
to mirror the way the brain
processes sound. In regional
communications around its
latest platform direction,
Starkey has stated that its
AI-based processing can make
up to 80 million
personalized adjustments per
hour, with the intent of
helping wearers stay
comfortable and connected
across different listening
situations.
Starkey’s progress in AI
processing has been built
over multiple technology
generations. In earlier
platform disclosures, the
company described its Neuro
Processor architecture as
delivering six times more
transistors, ten times more
memory, and up to four times
faster processing than the
prior generation—advances
designed to support
higher-speed analysis and
optimization without
compromising everyday
usability.
Starkey
had introduced Edge AI
featuring the G2 Neuro
Processor, which the company
describes as incorporating a
Neural Processing Unit (NPU)
with deep neural network
(DNN) processing
capabilities, and as being
engineered for strong
performance while
maintaining
“industry-leading battery
life.” Starkey also claims
the G2 includes the
“industry’s only NPU fully
integrated into the chip.”
In parallel, Starkey
continues to frame hearing
technology as a platform
that can support aspects of
health and safety, alongside
hearing performance. The
company has announced
hearing aids with built-in
balance assessment and has
linked this to fall-risk
screening frameworks,
including referencing the
CDC’s STEADI initiative, as
well as ongoing work
validating balance
assessment approaches with
external research partners.
Starkey MEA
continues to work with
hearing care professionals
across the region to support
patient awareness,
strengthen hearing health
conversations, and
accelerate access to
next-generation AI-enabled
hearing solutions as they
become available in-market.
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