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HearingTracker delved into the latest innovations and emerging technologies showcased at CES 2025 in Las Vegas, uncovering new advancements in hearing aids and accessibility. From AI-driven hearing devices to live-captioning glasses, this year’s Consumer Electronics Show highlighted cutting-edge solutions that promise to facilitate better hearing and communication for millions worldwide.
Over 141,000 CES attendees visited more than 4,500 booths and displays—from the football-field-sized Samsung exhibit to the thousands of 10x10-foot startup booths that dream of growing into a Samsung. In many respects, the annual CES Show, held each January, is an opportunity to glimpse into the future as good ideas transform into the new products we may soon see on Mainstreet.
HearingTracker, represented by UK Audiologist Matthew Allsop and me, walked the miles of aisles at CES 2025 to find the new products, technologies, and trends that may be reshaping the future. We were also guests of GN Hearing at a special event for media members hosted by GN Hearing President Scott Davis, which focused on the future of hearing aid technology (more on this coming soon).
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Although it's impossible to mention them all, here are some of the many interesting people, products, and technology we saw.
One omnipresent tech theme at CES 2025 was artificial intelligence. Although AI has already significantly influenced the sound processing and noise reduction of prescription hearing aids—most recently with the launches of Phonak Infinio Sphere and Starkey Edge AI in late 2024—it has been comparatively less common to see it in OTC hearing aids. That is changing.
ELEHEAR, with global headquarters in Shenzhen, China, and U.S. facilities in Chicago and Vancouver, released its Beyond OTC rechargeable receiver-in-canal (RIC) hearing aid in October. To be honest, the company’s two previous OTC hearing aids (Alpha and Alpha Pro) didn’t seem to be particularly special. However, Beyond quickly turned our heads—particularly after Dr. Steve Taddei, AuD, in the HearAdvisor test lab determined that Beyond was the best-performing sub-$500 hearing aid he has tested to date.
Designed with good sound quality, AI-driven speech-in-noise processing, Bluetooth streaming for iOS and Android, and customizable tinnitus relief, ELEHEAR Beyond checks all the boxes for an advanced, high-quality hearing aid. At $399, it’s an exceptional value for an OTC hearing aid or “consumer wearable” with hearing enhancement.
ELEHEAR VP of Sales Jeffery Tang and PR Manager Lens Waston are two young executives who are enthusiastic about the company's future. They told me that ELEHEAR aspires to be the standout AI-driven wearable that provides hearing enhancement along with other lifestyle features like music streaming and even language translation. When I asked Tang, he said that, based on answers from their focus groups, the majority (possibly 60-80%) of ELEHEAR products are worn situationally rather than for full-day use.
The company was showcasing its new Beyond Pro OTC hearing aid, which has even greater AI-driven capabilities—adjusting to the listening environment over 500 times per second. ELEHEAR products are available on the company’s website and Amazon.
TUNED is an AI-driven self-fitting software system for OTC hearing aid manufacturers, and I wrote an article about the Tuned platform when it received 510k FDA clearance in September 2023. At that time, the company’s software was being used in Intricon’s Intrisound Tuned Lumen 155 hearing aid, but it has since been employed in other successful OTC aids like the JVC EHZ1500, with more in the product development pipeline, including a lower-cost entry from China-based Jinghao.
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I spoke with TUNED Co-Founder and CEO Omri Gavish at CES 2025. The company's software is continuing to be refined and specialized for the onboarding of new users, with hearing diagnostics, first fitting, and after-sales service, including auditory training sessions and gamification. The system provides users with daily engagement activities, adjustments, coaching, interaction, positive feedback, and support for motivating and satisfying their unique hearing aid needs.
Tuned’s “AI Audiologist” is a chatbot that users can turn to when troubleshooting a problem. The software can even remotely adjust and fine-tune the device parameters based on the user's information and feedback, giving them immediate 24/7 help. This is particularly important during the first few weeks of the trial period. Tuned software is also designed to reduce the return rates of OTC hearing aids, which have been reported to range from 25% to 50%.
Here is Matthew Allsop’s interview with Tuned’s Co-Founder and CTO Ron Ganot.
Not far from the Tuned booth was technology from The Netherlands, which included BeephoniX microphones and the AI-driven Clementine AI software. Clementine started many years before Tuned Ltd as a potential platform for OTC and personal sound amplification products (PSAPs), but has since evolved to concentrate on breaking down the barriers that discourage consumers from getting hearing help. I spoke with Dr. Sjors Van de Weijer and Vince Van de Weijer about how their AI-driven software can screen for hearing loss and educate consumers about addressing their hearing needs while reducing any potential stigma issues.
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Technologies for people with hearing impairment that involve vision wear were some of the most exciting products showcased at CES 2025.
Being a grouchy 30-year veteran of the hearing industry, I admit to having a contrarian reaction whenever someone says a new hearing device is a “game-changer.” This is because a lot can go wrong—sound quality, user interface and software, coupling and comfort issues, processing, battery life, etc.— when developing a substantially different kind of hearing aid like the design of Nuance Audio Glasses.
Nuance Audio Glasses gather speech sounds by directing a microphone array to focus on sound in front of the user. The signals are then sent to an advanced AI-driven sound processor and transmitted to the open ear via receivers located near the end of the temples/arms of the glasses, directly over the ears.
When I visited the Essilor-Luxottica booth for the first time to try Nuance Audio Glasses and chat with Nuance’s Global Marketing Director Davide D’Alena and Ray-Ban Communication Global Brand Manager Delio Trozzi, I braced myself for mild disappointment. The company’s impressive booth (see photo at the top of page) was jam-packed with curious attendees, and the extremely loud, reverberant soundscape on a far wing of the CES Venetian Expo hall was only one notch below what you’d find in a live music venue (probably around 75-90 dB).
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When I first put the glasses on, there seemed to be a squelchy or echoic sound quality to the amplified sound, but as Davide and I continued talking (and I stopped fiddling around with seeing how fast the directional mic system could orient itself to nearby talkers), Davide’s voice seemed to pop out and become increasingly clear in the noise with good sound quality. It seemed like the longer we conversed face-to-face, the better the audio glasses performed. Except for the beginning, I didn’t detect any noticeable latency or interference.
So, after several of my colleagues published glowing reviews about Nuance Audio Glasses, I will add my own: they work surprisingly well. Considering the loud environment in which I was trying them and the fact that we had not taken the time to program them to my individual mild-to-moderate hearing loss (as would be the case if I were buying them at a vision wear or hearing care center), Nuance Audio glasses far outperformed my expectations in this very noisy environment.
Are they better than the latest AI-driven receiver-in-canal (RIC) hearing aids I’ve tried in the past six months from Phonak or Starkey? No, but with Nuance’s discreet open-ear technology, that’s just not a fair comparison. It would also have been interesting to test Nuance Audio glasses in a quiet one-on-one conversation—something I couldn’t do—to get a better idea of their sound quality. However, overall, these glasses are impressive.
According to D’Alene, Nuance Audio Glasses will be priced at about $1,100 at EssilorLuxottica vision care centers that include LensCrafters, Target Optical, and Pearle, pending clearance by the FDA. He anticipates hearing care practices will also get involved in the product’s distribution and fittings. Once you settle on Nuance Audio Glasses, you’ll also be able to order prescription lenses at an additional cost (although vision insurance may help reduce the price).
In all cases, consumers will need to visit either an optical and/or hearing care center for the initial fitting. The products have recently gained the CE mark and are expected to be available in Germany, France, Italy, UK, and Spain by the first half of the year.
Innovative glasses that provide live-captioning were also on display at CES, including those from Xander, Captify, HearSight, and Vuzix.
I stopped by the Xander booth and saw a demonstration from Xander Co-Founder Marilyn Morgan Westner. These glasses project highly visible green captions onto the inner lens in real time remarkably fast—and the noisy environment didn’t seem to hinder their performance as long as you faced and were within a few feet of the talker.
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All of the speech-to-text technology is built into the XanderGlasses system, so you don’t have to rely on Wi-Fi or your smartphone. However, the glasses’ relatively short (3 hour) battery life can be almost doubled if you do use Wi-Fi, and you can also get slightly more accurate captions, as well as language translation.
Westner says that the VA is already specifying XanderGlasses for veterans and family members who have a variety of communication problems, not just hearing loss. However, these devices would be ideal for someone with severe to profound hearing loss, either as a standalone or accessory device. They’re pricey at $5,000, but there is no subscription fee or any other needed accessories for their use; a wireless remote mic and prescription lenses (if needed) are also included free in the purchase price.
Here's Matthew’s interview with Xander Co-Founder and CEO Alex Westner.
Along with ELEHEAR, there were many manufacturers and distributors from Asia and the Pacific Rim showing their OTC hearing aids at CES 2025, including Jinghao, BESTEK, Retone, Wenatone/Vienatone, and iCombo Tech from China, hearDL/Hear DeLight from South Korea, and Relejet from Taiwan.
I had the pleasure of meeting with IMHear Director of Business Stella Ke and Audiologist Shulian Liang. With U.S. headquarters in Aurora, Ill, they provided me with a good overview of the Chinese hearing aid market, and emphasized that they were striving to deliver the right products and services to the right customers. Along with serving the consumer, they also wish to help hearing care professionals thrive in the new era of OTC hearing aids. IMH products include the Elara, Mila, and Venti OTC hearing aids, and the company also offers a line of PSAPs under the SOUNDWEAR® brand.
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As demonstrated by many of the above companies, "essential level" lower-cost hearing aids were being displayed in greater numbers than I'd seen at previous CES Shows.
I admit to having little knowledge about California-based OTC manufacturer Ceretone or its wide range of products and styles that were on display at CES 2025. The company’s flagship hearing aid is the Beacon OTC behind-the-ear (BTE) rechargeable aid that features a Bluetooth app and audio streaming for both iOS and Android for $599. It offers a hearing test and customized adjustment in addition to the option for pre-set programs. Available at Walmart.com are the Nexus BTE and Fusion earbud-style OTC hearing aids for $129. Additionally, the Ceretone Core One devices are rechargeable instant-fit in-ear aids that the company says are the smallest on the market for $349. Coming out this year will be the Core Pro and Torch which also provide a tinnitus masking sound.
In the video below, Matthew interviews Ceretone’s Emanuel Rodriguez.
I was also lucky enough to have a morning coffee with the Knowles team, which included engineers Mehul Kochar, senior director of business development, Kalyan Nadella, manager of R&D in receiver development, and media coordinator Alexandria Crabb. Knowles was highlighting its micro-acoustic microphones and balanced armature (BA) speakers used in hearing aids and audio devices of all types. The company has helped tailor listening experiences and enhanced hearing protection with sound personalization algorithms from companies like Audiodo and Mimi Technologies, with recent examples that include the JLab Epic Sport ANC 3 and the Breggz ZOHN-1 custom earbuds. In its hospitality suite, the company had an impressive selection of OTC hearing aids and audio devices that used Knowles components, including a cool set of Bluetooth earbuds that incorporated individual hearing personalization and listening transparency for just $30.
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Because of their hearing aid component sales, Knowles and their competitors have unique insights for observing the market (early MarkeTrak consumer surveys were sponsored by Knowles). I put Kochar on the spot and asked him if he might make an estimate of the unit volume sales of all OTC hearing aids in the United States, and he guessed around 2 million, albeit with a sizable return rate. He conceded that the market was growing more slowly than previously anticipated but says it still holds great promise—particularly as the drive for more personalized hearing solutions has intensified with Apple's new hearing aid mode.
CES never disappoints when it comes to seeing new technologies and ideas for improving hearing healthcare and accessibility. Next year's CES will be held in Las Vegas on January 6-9, 2026.
Karl Strom ist der Chefredakteur von HearingTracker. Er war Gründungsredakteur von The Hearing Review und berichtet seit über 30 Jahren über die Hörhilfenindustrie.
