ROCHESTER, N.Y. — For millions of people, hearing loss can feel like slowly being shut out from the world around them. However, a new wave of AI-powered hearing aids is helping to change that — making conversations clearer, making noisy environments easier to navigate and making everyday life more connected.

Packed into a tiny device is some seriously smart tech — trained on millions of real-world sounds. Audiologist Matt MacDonald of MacDonald Audiology, says it’s designed to pick out the voice you want to hear and lift it above the background noise.

What You Need To Know

  • AI-powered hearing aids use smart technology to isolate voices and reduce background noise for clearer conversations

  • Modern models offer features like Bluetooth streaming, automatic adjustments, and rechargeable batteries

  • Despite their high cost, users often describe the improved hearing experience as life-changing

These are not your old-school hearing aids. Today’s models can stream music, take phone calls and adjust automatically based on your location and the person you are talking to.

“No longer are we pushing this sound through a hollow tube. Rather, that’s an electrical wire that leads to the loudspeaker, which sits right in the ear canal. Virtually all modern hearing instruments are rechargeable. This one, for example, happens to have a battery inside the case. You can charge it kind of like your AirPods,” said MacDonald.

“Hearing instruments are considered medical devices. So all of the radio frequencies, all of the software that they have, it kind of falls under that HIPAA guidelines. So, only certain individuals are able to get a hold of that software. Hearing instruments do communicate with one another, but they have their own proprietary link to one another and it’s a very short range,” MacDonald added.

These smart hearing aids don’t just restore sound — they enhance it. MacDonald says many new wearers return from noisy settings like restaurants, surprised by how well they did without even realizing it. He says even if someone managed to access another person’s hearing aid, it wouldn’t matter — the settings don’t contain any private information and wouldn’t be useful to anyone else.

While the devices can cost thousands, he says most users call the experience "life-changing."