Signia MaX: A New Generation of AI Hearing Technology
On Friday 4th September, I attended the UK launch of Signia’s latest hearing aid technology at the spectacular Concorde Conference Centre in Manchester.
With Concorde quite literally suspended above us, it was certainly one of the more memorable settings for a hearing aid launch!
The event gave me the opportunity to get an early look at Signia Multi-adaptive Xperience (MaX) and its first hearing aid, the Signia Pure Charge&Go MaX.
As an independent audiologist, one of the important parts of my job is keeping up to date with developments across all the major hearing aid manufacturers. There is a huge amount of talk about artificial intelligence in hearing technology at the moment, so I was particularly interested to see what Signia was doing differently with its new platform.
From IX to MaX
Signia’s previous Integrated Xperience (IX) technology has already been particularly strong when it comes to conversations involving multiple people.
Rather than simply focusing on one person directly in front of the hearing aid wearer, Signia developed its RealTime Conversation Enhancement technology to identify and enhance different speakers as a conversation moves around a group.
MaX takes that concept considerably further.
At the heart of the new platform is something Signia calls Acoustic Intelligence™.
Rather than relying on a single AI system, Acoustic Intelligence uses four Deep Neural Networks working together, each analysing a different aspect of the listening environment. Signia says the system was trained using 40 million sound samples, including thousands of real voices and listening environments, 11 languages and six genres of music. It can analyse changes within the listening environment in as little as 0.01 seconds.
That is an impressive amount of processing happening inside two very small hearing aids.
What does all that AI actually do?
Whenever we talk about AI in hearing aids, I think it is important to look beyond the terminology.
For somebody wearing hearing aids, the important question isn't how many neural networks are inside them. It's:
Will they help me hear better in the situations where I currently struggle?
Signia's four AI systems are used to control four important areas of sound processing.
RealTime Conversation Enhancement AI
This is probably the feature I am most interested in.
Restaurants, family gatherings, pubs and other group situations remain some of the most challenging environments for people with hearing loss.
RealTime Conversation Enhancement AI is designed to identify and follow multiple speakers as the conversation moves around the wearer, rather than forcing them to constantly reposition themselves towards whoever happens to be speaking.
The new system processes 75% more sound data per second than the previous IX generation, allowing it to locate speakers more precisely and provide greater separation between speech and surrounding noise.
Signia has also published some encouraging early research. In one study involving 30 experienced hearing aid wearers in a simulated noisy group conversation, 29 out of 30 participants achieved their best speech-understanding performance with MaX when compared with Signia IX and two other premium hearing aids.
As always, manufacturer research needs to be considered alongside what we see in the real world, but these are certainly interesting results.
Dynamic Noise Control AI
Background noise isn't one single type of sound.
Traffic, a busy café, plates clattering in a restaurant and several people talking at once all present very different listening challenges.
Dynamic Noise Control AI analyses what the noise is, where it is coming from and whether the wearer is currently involved in conversation. It can then adjust the amount of noise reduction being applied rather than simply making everything quieter. citeturn1search3
For me, this is an important distinction. Successful hearing technology shouldn't simply remove as much sound as possible. We still want the wearer to feel connected to their surroundings while making speech easier to access.
Ambient Scene Adaptation AI
The third part continuously analyses the wider acoustic environment.
Instead of simply switching between fixed listening modes, the hearing aids can respond to characteristics including reverberation, movement, music and other changes within the environment.
The aim is for the hearing aids to do more of this automatically in the background, without the wearer having to constantly reach for an app or change programmes.
Own Voice Processing AI
Anyone who has worn hearing aids for the first time will know that one of the strangest sounds can be their own voice.
Signia has worked on this for several generations with its Own Voice Processing technology. With MaX, this has now been incorporated into its Acoustic Intelligence system.
The hearing aids can recognise the wearer's own voice and process it differently, helping it remain natural while still providing the amplification required for everything else.
Connectivity is becoming just as important
Another area I was pleased to see Signia address is connectivity.
The Pure Charge&Go MaX supports modern Bluetooth connectivity including Bluetooth LE Audio and Auracast, alongside Bluetooth Classic and a telecoil.
Auracast is something I have written and spoken about increasingly at High Peak Hearing because I believe it has the potential to become extremely important for hearing aid wearers.
It allows compatible hearing aids to connect directly to an Auracast broadcast in a public space.
Imagine entering a cinema, theatre, conference venue, airport or railway station and being able to receive the audio directly through your hearing aids.
We are already beginning to see Auracast installations appearing in the UK, and I expect this technology to become increasingly important over the next few years.
So, are these the best hearing aids available?
This is always the question after a new hearing aid launch!
And my answer remains the same: there isn't one hearing aid that is best for everybody.
Every manufacturer approaches sound differently. More AI, more processing power or a longer feature list doesn't automatically mean somebody will prefer that hearing aid.
Hearing loss, speech-in-noise ability, lifestyle, dexterity, phone compatibility and even personal preference for how sound is processed all play a part.
That's one of the main advantages of being an independent audiology clinic. At High Peak Hearing, I'm not tied to one hearing aid manufacturer. I can look across the technology available from Signia and the other leading manufacturers and recommend what I believe is most appropriate for the individual sitting in front of me.
My first impressions of Signia MaX
After seeing the technology presented in Manchester, I'm looking forward to putting Signia MaX through its paces in the clinic.
For me, the most interesting development isn't simply the claim of having four AI neural networks. It's how Signia is using them together.
Trying to understand the conversation, the surrounding environment, background noise and the wearer's own voice simultaneously feels like a logical next step for hearing technology.
I'm particularly interested to see how the new RealTime Conversation Enhancement AI performs with patients who tell me:
"I can hear perfectly well when it's just the two of us, but as soon as I go into a busy restaurant or there's a group of people, I struggle."
That remains one of the biggest challenges we encounter in audiology.
Technology is moving incredibly quickly at the moment, and attending events such as the Signia MaX launch gives me the opportunity to see what is coming next, question the people behind the technology and, most importantly, decide whether these developments could genuinely benefit my patients.
And getting to spend the day underneath Concorde wasn't a bad bonus either!
Interested in trying the latest hearing technology?
If you're struggling to follow conversations, particularly in background noise or group situations, the first step isn't necessarily choosing a particular hearing aid.
At High Peak Hearing, we start with a comprehensive hearing assessment to understand your hearing and, importantly, how you manage speech when background noise is present.
From there, we can discuss the different options available and arrange a trial of suitable hearing technology, including the latest developments from Signia.
Contact High Peak Hearing to arrange a hearing assessment or hearing aid trial in New Mills.
