Press room

Eden Prairie, Minnesota, October 28, 2020 – 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.

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.

For more information on Livio Edge AI, click here. For more information on OrCam MyEye, click here.

About Starkey
Starkey is a privately held, global hearing technology company headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. Founded by Bill Austin in 1967, Starkey is known for its innovative design, development and distribution of comprehensive digital hearing systems. Led today by President and CEO Brandon Sawalich, Starkey is the only American-owned provider of hearing technologies. The company has more than 5,000 employees, operates 26+ facilities and does business in more than 100 markets worldwide. Learn more at starkey.com.

About OrCam Technologies
OrCam Technologies, a leader in personal, wearable AI platforms, was jointly founded in 2010 by Israeli innovators Prof. Amnon Shashua and Mr. Ziv Aviram, who are also the Co-founders of Mobileye (now an Intel company), the collision avoidance system leader and autonomous driving innovator. Inspired by this development of groundbreaking artificial vision technology that supports safer driving, OrCam harnesses AI-driven computer vision to provide increased independence to people who are blind or visually impaired, are hearing impaired, have reading challenges, and for other populations. The company's flagship OrCam MyEye 2 assistive technology device was named as a TIME Best Invention of 2019.

For more information: www.orcam.com and YouTube and follow OrCam on Facebook and Twitter.