New hearing aid company, Fortell, brings in Steve Martin and others

https://archive.is/gadrA

From the article:

Among the age-related-hearing-loss set, getting into the Fortell beta test has become a weird status symbol, the aural-prosthetics version of a limited-edition Birkin bag. “This product has become a major flex for the post-70 set,” says one investor. When entertainment lawyer Allen Grubman got his—he’s buddies with an investor—he began getting calls from “very substantial” people. “They said, ‘Allen, we hear that you have these new great hearing aids,’” he says of these callers, who all wanted in. Those who finagled their way into the program include multiple Forbes 400 billionaires, a chart-topping musician, the producer of a beloved TV series, and Hollywood A-listers, both old and not-so-old. KKR private equity co-executive chair Henry Kravis raves about his Fortells, as does performer and beta tester Steve Martin.

...

Lovchinsky felt that the AI claims made by some other hearing aid companies were overblown; they were simply tweaking the amplification, he says, or aiming the microphones in a different direction.

“What became clear is that what was needed is source separation,” he says. “Take an audio wave that contains both things you want to hear and things you don't want to hear, and separate them into just speech and just noise.” Even in 2021, it wasn’t clear that this was possible. “We all have this incredible neural network in our heads honed by billions of years of evolution to recognize speech,” he says. “If you do the source separation with the slightest deviation from full naturalness, your brain will immediately hear it.”

As the company’s cofounder and chief scientific officer, Lovchinsky and his team set about using cutting-edge AI to identify the aural fingerprints of the voices directed to the wearer, clean them up, and pass them on as if delivered in a quieter setting.

...

Casper also wasn’t sure that his task could be accomplished. “Your ear is very sensitive to latency,” he says, noting that if the altered sounds weren’t processed in 10 milliseconds—a hundredth of a second—it would throw users into a hellish uncanny valley. “We didn’t know if it could be done in that amount of time with a high enough fidelity so you aren’t going to notice distortions.” Only then, he says, could the company move to the final challenge: “Can we even put this thing into your ear?”

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Now that the product is launched, Fortell will sell hearing aids in a single clinic on Manhattan’s Park Avenue. It’s decked out like a posh lounge, with the devices on display in a tasteful presentation that’s straight out of the Apple retail playbook. Hanging on the wall is a silicon wafer with the circuitry of the custom chips. In the early stages, his staff of four audiologists will serve only a couple of dozen customers a week, to make sure everything goes smoothly. In any case, while ramping up production, the supply will be limited.

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This is great for Fortell, but it seems de Jonge’s initial impulse to usher everyone’s grandparents into the land of the hearing is in danger of being limited to the one percent, which doesn’t exactly qualify him for a Salk medal. When I ask de Jonge how his invention can scale to change life for the masses, his replies, whether due to secrecy on future plans or just not having a good answer, seem hand-wavy. In his defense, Fortell has resisted the temptation to jack up the traditional price of premium hearing aids—the $6,800 is actually a bit less than some other medically prescribed hearing aids.

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Fortell is no miracle: In really noisy conditions, things are still hopeless. But to be fair, even people with perfect hearing are usually shouting at each other in those situations. (Who told restaurants that Led Zeppelin–level noise was the perfect accompaniment to dining?) Absent, say, a DJ and a wall of speakers, Fortell really did crack the Cocktail Party Problem. Compared to the expensive hearing aids I was using, I could follow more conversations during restaurant meals. I found myself comfortable with using them all day, whereas I couldn’t wait to take off the ones I had paid $8,000 for. (Apologies to Phonak—I haven’t tried those.) The biggest test was how well I could hear my wife, whose dulcet voice is sometimes the hardest one for me to make out. Using these new devices, I am less likely to respond to her trenchant observations with the word “What?”

Bottom line: Now that Fortell is open for business, I’m going to ditch my present units and drop almost seven grand to buy a pair. If I can get on the list.

I imagine this exclusivity is very temporary and most people who can afford high-end hearing aids will be able to get them in a year or two. Also, they'll have competition.

Thanks to the beta testers, I guess.