When you think about hearing loss, you might typically envision your grandparents blaring the television or having to semi-shout when talking to them. But the reality is more than 1.57 billion people of all ages worldwide experience hearing loss, which is the third-most common chronic physical condition in the U.S. alone, twice as prevalent as diabetes and cancer.
And it’s only expected to get worse: The World Health Organization predicts in the next 25 years, more than 2.5 billion people worldwide will experience hearing loss. That’s nearly one-third of the world’s entire population.
Starkey, a billion-dollar hearing tech company, is one company addressing not only hearing loss today, but preparing for what is becoming only a more prominent health concern. On Thursday, the company announced its latest hearing aid model Omega AI+, the successor to last year’s Omega AI.
“Starkey is a company with the vision, talent, and global scale to invest in the future long before it arrives,” Brandon Sawalich, president and CEO of Starkey, told Fortune. “Omega AI+ is the result of that commitment, years of AI investment, deep technical expertise, and a belief that the best technology should make people feel more connected to the world around them.”
Last year’s Omega AI was the first hearing aid in the world to use deep neural network-powered directionality and spatial awareness features, according to Starkey. Deep neural networks are a type of machine learning system inspired by how the human brain works, processing information in layers until it produces a final output.
Omega AI+ takes that a step further. Its new chip runs four deep neural networks at once, each handling a different part of what you hear, from speech to background noise. It also includes what Starkey says is the world’s first “DNN dual compressor,” which decides when to make speech clearer and when to keep sound natural, a tradeoff hearing aids have long struggled with. And the AI-driven Edge Mode, which users previously had to turn on, can now stay on all the time. Last year’s model made more than 80 million automatic adjustments per hour to ensure maximum sound quality and speech clarity, Dave Fabry, Starkey’s chief hearing health officer, told Fortune at the time.
In other words, the Omega AI+ model makes it easier for users to differentiate sounds in their environment, say, if a user was taking a walk on a windy day and wanted to be able to tune into their walking partner’s voice and tune out the background noise.
“We have [many patients] who really just want this to occur at a subconscious level,” Fabry said. “They want to have all of the power of AI and computational power, the ability to improve speech understanding, in quiet and noise and all of those situations. But they don’t have to engage with the devices any more than necessary in order to get the benefit.” That makes it much easier for older-generation patients who may be apprehensive to use AI out of the fear of the unknown or not understanding the technology.
But more than that, Omega AI+ builds on Starkey’s mission to make its hearing aids more of a lifestyle device. The new lineup supports Auracast, a Bluetooth technology that lets users tune into public and personal audio broadcasts, and brings Starkey’s AI features to more styles, including its smallest custom hearing aids.
“At our core, Starkey is a technology company,” Sawalich told Fortune. “We happen to apply that technology to one of the most important human experiences: connecting people to the world around them.”
How Starkey fits in the wearable health tech industry
Sawalich has called the ear “the new wrist,” a nod to the booming wearable tech market—think Apple Watches, Whoop bands, and Oura rings. Omega AI+ leans further into that idea with its new sleep tracking, which joins the fitness and health features Starkey has been adding to its devices.
Apple is one of the biggest players in that race. Its AirPods Pro 3 offer heart-rate sensing and live translation, and Apple says AirPods can work as a clinical-grade hearing aid for mild-to-moderate hearing loss. And while at face value that might feel like competition for a company like Starkey, Sawalich explained last year it’s a step in the right direction that large tech companies are recognizing and embracing the trend of increased hearing loss.
“I love that Apple is bringing attention to hearing loss and what they’re doing with AirPods,” Sawalich said. “People need to understand that there is no more stigma around hearing aids and hearing technology.”
But what sets Starkey apart is developing a product that can be worn for more hours of the day and something that’s more discreet.
“The most effective technologies are those that just seamlessly integrate into a person’s life, that become a part of their day-to-day existence,” Fabry said.
While AirPods, of course, don’t include dangling cords, they’re still more cumbersome than Starkey hearing aids. Plus, the battery life isn’t as long, which makes it difficult for people with more significant hearing loss to wear them throughout the day.
“We have to design, engineer, manufacture, and provide a product that is nearly invisible and is also designed for 14 hours a day,” Sawalich said. “We have to design a product that people are comfortable wearing. It’s a lifestyle product, it’s a productivity product, it’s a connectivity product.” Starkey’s products also include a telehealth feature in which professionals can remotely make adjustments to the hearing-aid settings. The hearing aids will also indicate battery life (an industry-leading 51 hours) through LED lights, signal if there’s wax buildup, alert loved ones if it detects a fall, and isarewaterproof.
Sawalich also told Fortune last year that Shark Tank star Daymond John, 57, wears the product, and his co-star Kevin O’Leary, 72, tried the Starkey products because “they live in the future” and understand what differentiates their products from others.
“The technologies that will define the next decade aren’t coming someday. They’re here now,” Sawalich said. “The difference is that most companies are still talking about them, while we’re already putting them into people’s hands.”
A version of this story was published on Fortune.com on October 9, 2025.
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