Press room

Eden Prairie, Minnesota (March 29, 2023) – Dr. Achin Bhowmik, Starkey’s Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President of Engineering, was the keynote speaker at the 2023 tinyML Summit yesterday. This premier annual event gathers professionals and decision-makers in the tinyML ecosystem, with this year’s event focused on end-users and applications of tinyML. In his presentation, Dr. Bhowmik discussed the neuroscience of hearing, technologies for enhancing and augmenting auditory perception, and presented Genesis AI, Starkey’s all-new, completely redesigned hearing technology released just last month.

“At Starkey, we are transforming hearing aids into multifunctional, wearable health and communication devices with advanced sensors and artificial intelligence (AI),” said Bhowmik. “The modern-day hearing aid is the perfect device to look to as we dream about where extremely power-efficient AI-at-the-edge can take us. This technology helps people lead better, more fulfilling lives, and that is a tremendous opportunity for applications of tinyML.”

Starkey's Genesis AI hearing aids are enabled by harnessing nature and mimicking the biological processes of how we sense and understand the world around us. The all-new Starkey Neuro Processor features the industry’s most advanced processor technology, which mimics the function of the central auditory system through an on-chip Deep Neural Network (DNN) accelerator. Powered by advanced machine learning algorithms, the devices classify the environment and automatically optimize the sound output two billion times a day.

In addition, these devices serve as a continuous monitor for physical and cognitive activities, an automatic fall detection and alert system, as well as a personal assistant. They can stream phone calls and music with all-day battery life, translate languages, transcribe speech, and remind the wearer to take their medication among other tasks – making them the perfect embodiment of tinyML, delivering a large impact to human lives.

“The tinyML Summit has continued to grow in technical breadth and depth since its inception in 2019,” said Davis Sawyer, Chair of the tinyML Summit 2023. “This year, we focused on applications and end-users to highlight the real-world impact low power ML technologies are making around the globe. Having Achin Bhowmik of Starkey as our keynote speaker is a testament to the growth of tinyML in such a short time.”

To learn more about Starkey, please 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 29 facilities and does business in more than 100 markets worldwide. Learn more at starkey.com.