Source: OticonOticon Kaizn, a personalized health care aid for hearing aid wearers, has received a 2019 CES Best of Innovation Award in the Software and Mobile Apps category, and has been named a CES Innovation Honoree in the Tech for a Better World category.
Billed as “the world's first personal AI assistant for your ears,” the device comes from the same company that developed internet-connected hearing aid Opn. Similar to Spotify, which recommends new songs based on a user's past listening behavior, Kaizn learns from a hearing aid wearer's listening preferences, habits and environments. It can then predict preferences in a particular sound scenario and automatically adjust hearing aid settings for an optimized listening experience.
The AI-powered tool relies on direct communication with hearing aid wearers to learn what they want to gain from different sound environments. For example, Kaizn will recognize when a hearing aid wearer enters a noisy environment such as a loud restaurant. It will contact the wearer via push notification to ask whether they need "focus" or "comfort" in the scenario and adjust settings to reflect that preference. Over time, Kaizn can learn to make automatic adjustments in similar noise environments.
Kaizn’s curious name was inspired by the Japanese business principle of kaizen, which translates to "change for better" and implies a continuous process of improvement.
At CES 2019, Oticon will preview Kaizn alongside 2018 CES Innovation Award winner HearingFitness and 2017 CES Best of Innovation Award winner, Oticon Opn. The annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association runs from January 8 to 11, 2019, in Las Vegas.
