Hearing Matters Podcast

Starkey Omega AI feat. Brandon Sawalich and Dr. Dave Fabry

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Want to know what “better hearing in noise” actually sounds like when AI, sensors, and human care work in sync? We bring together Starkey’s president and CEO, Brandon Sawalich, and Chief Hearing Health Officer, Dr. Dave Fabry, for a candid look at Starkey Omega AI—why it exists, what changed from Edge AI, and how it turns hearing aids into confident, 360-degree listening tools without sidelining professionals.

We dig into DNN 360 and how deep neural networks now blend noise management with directionality and low-latency binaural processing to deliver measurable gains in speech understanding. Dave explains the role of IMU sensors in tracking movement and intent—think following a walking companion at your side—while Brandon shares how being privately held enables a patient-first pace of innovation. TeleHear AI adds timely support: when a clinic visit isn’t possible, users can describe the problem, get smart on-device adjustments, compare results, and keep what works, with changes reported back to their clinician. It’s an example of “friendly AI” that saves time, lifts outcomes, and preserves the provider-patient bond.

We also talk access and ethics. From fall detection offered across tiers to StarkeyCares and Hear Now, the team argues that safety and dignity shouldn’t be premium features. Data logging grows from hours-worn into environment-aware insights that inform personalization, reduce returns, and drive satisfaction. And for clinicians worried about being replaced, the takeaway is clear: the irreplaceable value is knowing the person behind the audiogram, translating powerful tech into the two or three features that matter most to that life.

If you care about hearing technology, clinical excellence, health equity, and where AI is truly useful, this conversation maps the road ahead—fast, human, and focused on outcomes. Subscribe, share with a colleague who still thinks “adaptive directionality” is enough, and leave a quick review telling us which Omega AI feature you want to try first.

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Blaise Delfino:

You're tuned in to the Hearing Matters Podcast, the show that discusses hearing technology, best practices, and a global epidemic. Hearing loss. Before we kick this episode off, a special thank you to our partners. Sycle, built for the entire hearing care practice. Caption Call by Sorensen, Life is calling. Care Credit, Here today to help more people here tomorrow. Fader Plugs, the world's first custom adjustable earplug. Welcome back to another episode of the Hearing Matters Podcast. I'm founder and host, Blaise Delfino, and as a friendly reminder, this podcast is separate from my work at Starkey. You're tuned in to the Hearing Matters Podcast, the show that discusses hearing technology, best practices, and a global epidemic. Hearing loss. I'm your host, Blaise Delfino, and I'm joined today by none other than Brandon Sawalich, president and CEO of Starkey, also the most tenured CEO in the hearing healthcare industry, and Dr. Dave Fabry, Chief Hearing Health Officer at Starkey. Brandon and Dave, welcome to the Hearing Matters Podcast. Thank you, Blaze. Yeah, let's have some fun. So I've been thinking about this. The first time I had both of you on the podcast was like when we started this. And it's incredible to see the evolution, not only of the podcasting space in hearing healthcare, but Starkey as well. So we're talking about emerging technology leadership. Brandon, I want to start with you first. You are the most tenured CEO in the industry. You've witnessed massive shifts in technology over 30 years of experience. What has allowed you and Starkey to remain fearless in the face of such rapid change? Well, it starts with the patient, right?

Brandon Sawalich:

We all know this. And everything that we do, you know, is it best for the patient? And this the philosophy that hearing is essential. And what allows us the flexibility is, I mean, first thing is, you know, the patient is number one, and we're privately held. So our priorities are what's best for the patient, is best for our customers, is best for Starkey. So we can make decisions that we know that the patient, what the patient benefits require. But also, you know, we can make the decisions on, you know, or I'll say we can take risks. So we can make the decision to take certain risks. And if, as Dave, as you know, is we try it and it we build on it if it's successful. And if it's not, you fail fast and move on.

Blaise Delfino:

Something that you you always say, Brandon, is that customers are are the shareholders and and the people of Starkey are the shareholders. And being a privately held company, you really don't have that bottleneck of a board. I mean, the people of Starkey are the board. And um, being a hearing care professional myself, growing up in the industry as well, and seeing the evolution of where Starkey has been even from 2017 to now, um, on behalf of the industry, thank both of you for what you've done and continue to do for the patient, because we know that you lead with the heart and it's all for the patient. Brandon, AI. A couple of years ago it was a buzzword. Now it's it's real. Um, health monitoring, many companies are essentially playing catch-up. What is it about Starkey's leadership mindset that allows Starkey to really push the boundaries or even push the edge of what's possible?

Brandon Sawalich:

Well, we started the AI revolution in the hearing industry in 2018. And again, it was all about the sound quality and we wanted the best hearing aid. And then taking that from single purpose to multi-purpose. And I think you know, Dave uh one time coined uh the ear is the new wrist. And I used that, but I give you credit for it because people instantly can relate. Um, using AI to help people not just hear better, but be the best that they could be each and every day. We empower them. So we're empowering them through our health features, um, along with personal assistant and other other areas, but we don't lose focus on what's best. And it starts with you know the sound quality because people want to hear better noise. So we're on our eighth generation now, uh, just launched, uh, the best generation uh with Omega AI. And the uh the sound quality there is is uh out of this league. And because you know, to 2023, I made a statement that in five years I want to be 10 years ahead. And in order to do that, you have to set the pace of innovation, and and we're doing that with the team here.

Blaise Delfino:

It's so incredible to witness because we bring up Jim Collins good to great, and Starkey will be and is is definitely on the road to becoming that great company. And it all comes down to that leadership and the people that make up the organization. The three of us co-wrote an article on emerging technologies, and we talked about the Da Vinci surgical system. And when this was introduced, I mean, Dave, you had said, hey guys, we should talk about the Da Vinci surgical system and how uh a lot of physicians thought that this specific system would totally annihilate what they were doing uh in terms of surgery. Can you unpack how Starkey's using AI to empower, not overshadow hearing care professionals, especially now with Omega AI?

Dave Fabry:

Sure. Um and and just for those who hadn't or aren't familiar with either that article or uh what Da Vinci's surgical system was, it was introduced probably like 25 years ago, around the turn of the century. And they were using robotics in the OR to do some of the fine motor control that really the robot can do better than a human. But many of the surgeons felt that it was an attempt to replace them rather than augment their skills. And so, similar to us, we believe that our technology in the professional's hands delivers the best outcome for the patient, and we'll never deviate from that. As Brandon said, you know, it's all about the patient, but we also know that it's the expertise of the professional with our technology that can optimize, personalize, customize those solutions for the patient and their lifestyle better than anything else. In the same way that that Da Vinci, um, when they came out and said robotics are gonna eliminate the need for surgical expertise, it failed. Till they came back and they built a bridge that now works so that the surgeon and the robot work in tandem to deliver better outcomes. And so it is consistent and it is a good metaphor for where we're going.

Brandon Sawalich:

What we're doing is, you know, with our AI, DNN 360, and our neuroprocessor, we're putting in a built-in easy button for the professional so that allows them to save time so they can focus on the patient and understand what the patient needs are, less with having to uh worry about the technology. I mean, we're making it better and easier and sound incredible, but then they could focus on the human aspect. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Dave Fabry:

Exactly. And what I've said for many years is that you don't know your patient until you know your patient. The patient is far more than the audiogram. In fact, the audiogram is a blunt instrument. And every professional listening has had two patients that have the same audiometric parameters but have very different experiences with hearing loss or even with hearing aids. And it's because of all of that human element. Right. And and the role of the professional that can never be commoditized is caring and learning and really listening intently to that patient and what his or her concerns are regarding their hearing loss, what are their fears about, or or what stigma do they carry with them if they're first-time users.

Brandon Sawalich:

Trevor Burrus, Jr.: It's really what Bill was talking to us about yesterday is is, you know, and we do this when, and I know you do when you're seeing your patients, is finding the ability. But not worrying about what's wrong and the negative connotation and you know, how we talk, I think it, you know, one thing we've done a good job of is how to think differently and and use um different terminology. Um and it's really finding somebody's ability and not what the loss is. But that's individualized.

Dave Fabry:

Personalized. And and and the issue, you know, Brandon uh talks about this in the uh as friendly AI in many ways. We're not doing and we're not using AI for the purpose of eliminating or automating this, and the machines aren't going to take over the world anytime soon, in my opinion, because I can tell you how many times I see um uh patients that are fitted, but but maybe they didn't do the little things, like understanding that the patient has really narrow ear canals and the devices are uncomfortable. You can have the best technology in the world, but if it's not fitting in the ear comfortably or that they can't get it easily in and out of their ears, it's not gonna be a good experience for them. So you have to take every element and operate at the top of your scope of practice. And then Brandon also said, you know, since 2018, we've been on this journey. Job one is always hearing better. The other, hearing loss doesn't occur in a vacuum. And many people outside of our discipline don't think about the links between uh untreated hearing loss and cardiovascular disease. That that helps uh uh indicate, you know, many cardiovascular surgeons will say that in an aging individual, their audiogram is often the best barometer of cardiovascular health because of the blood supply issues that go, that minute blood supply that goes to the ears. Hence we built in devices that can track physical activity, cognitive function in terms of the social engagement, and we've taken that ball and run with it. And then, as you said, with the the generative AI now, it's crazy the things that people can do to command and control their hearing aids using just their voice.

Blaise Delfino:

You had said that when Starkey first introduced Livio, and I mean, I was practicing and I was like, holy smokes, this is incredible. This is like a switch army knife for hearing aids, it's it's amazing, it'll do everything. But you and and Starkey experienced what we would call some pushback from even some of your most loyal customers, people that you knew for 20, 30 years. As a leader, how did you digest all that information and even assure them that it's going to be okay because in five years from now, like your concerns are gonna be sort of not concerns anymore?

Brandon Sawalich:

We were learning too. I mean, it's you know, it was an opportunity, that's the way I look at it, because you know, there's gonna be certain things you try and it doesn't work. Uh, but a lot of the features that we started with were still building and expanding and making them them better. And, you know, our um our the people of Starkey and from myself, you know, everyone else really had to learn how to talk about it because we were excited, but you mentioned it and you've uh you know, I I've called it this is we kind of talked about like a Swiss Army knife, and it just we you know, everybody's eyes would get big and we just kind of gloss right over. Um the main important part was it's a hearing aid and it sounds it here's what the functionality and it has this. We talked about everything because we were excited. So it was an opportunity to educate, train, but really the opportunity there was the possibility of what can be done and really bringing the hearing aid into that multi-purpose personal assistant type device. And you know, I will say that you know, when you when you're first out, you're gonna get a lot of pushback, something new, it's change, right? And people's time is valuable. And so they had to learn how to talk about it as well. And that was from our learning moments, uh, following up, you know, with with our uh other products afterwards. It's you know, we made it easier, but our excitement kind of uh uh, you know, brought excitement to the industry, but also uh a little bit of confusion where we had to step back and understand how you know we trained and developed and what they needed to focus on.

Dave Fabry:

Yeah, we had this cornucopia of features and things built in along the better hearing, the health and wellness, and the virtual assistant. We don't expect that every patient is gonna need all of those features. And that was the biggest learning lesson that we had out of the gate was in the role of the professional, but also our responsibility is to help highlight those one or two or three things that will make a difference for that individual patient. And it won't be the same for every patient.

Brandon Sawalich:

Yeah, and their lifestyle, right? Not everybody's gonna use the language translator. Um if you're traveling and lifestyle, they're going to. And same with the eventually the fall detection. So we hit, you know, we adjusted, and it's kind of a yeah, it's there if you need it.

Blaise Delfino:

Brandon, we're talking about Omega AI. Starkey again has pushed the boundaries of what's possible in hearing healthcare. When the team, both you and Dave and and the entire Starkey team, was, you know, from concept, proof of concept, to now it's, you know, it's in patients' ears. Tell me about what you were feeling throughout the process of introducing Omega AI. Do you still have that maybe um, I don't want to say you you're a fearless leader, but nervousness whenever you're you're looking to push the boundary of what's possible?

Brandon Sawalich:

I'm a risk taker. I mean, it's you know, if for me is if you know the biggest uh risk is not trying. And really with you know, Omega AI is you know, it's you know, I can get up in front of hundreds of customers, professionals, anywhere, and I know this is the best sounding hearing aid. I mean, it what this thing uh, what the technology is doing. When I first put it on, I think I started wearing it in July. So it was, I mean, I've had with edge AI, it was like, wow, I mean, incredible sound. And then I put this on um and tried the Omega AI, and as soon as it went on, it was like hearing in 360. And I know it's been used in marketing stuff, but you know, we're gonna have good marketing and we have the good support for Omega AI, but the product speaks for itself to the person, and it spoke to me where I was hearing things, you know, it's almost you know, it's almost like I could think and tell the hearing aid what to do. You gotta experience it because I'm talking to you, but I know that if you know there's something going on over here, I'm picking that up much more clearer than I have in the in the past. And so I'm hearing uh very clear, very natural, and I could say that. Um and I don't hear there's you know, of course, the circuit noise, nothing. Everything is you know, is it's clear and crisp. And I I can't take them off. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Blaise Delfino:

Sound quality being number one. And with Omega AI, uh, Dave, you've long been an advocate for really bridging the gap between innovation and, of course, clinical utility. So what recent advancements with Omega AI do you believe have truly changed the patient experience at the point of care?

Dave Fabry:

It's a great question. I mean, I think first and foremost, thank you. I wrote it. Oh, okay. Well, blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while. Um so the the issue, I guess, as we started really, it's all personalization, customization to the patient, that relationship and that connection between the professional and the patient. We're all busy. One thing we learned, although we've had telehealth features for a very long time, people didn't realize until the COVID pandemic that they needed both synchronous and asynchronous telehealth to remain in touch with their patients to be able to customize and optimize when they couldn't do face-to-face. Now it doesn't replace face-to-face care. Where we've gone with Omega AI in a new direction is called telehere AI. So if telehere, synchronous or or asynchronous telehealth allows you to fine-tune the device to meet the individual's lifestyle or audiometric needs, telehere AI provides an additional bridge if the professional is not available, if the patient is in a challenging listening environment where even with edge mode it doesn't work, or with all of the DNN 360, if it's still if they're still struggling in a particularly difficult environment, they can simply use this Telhear AI feature to state what type of trouble they're having. And the device, without intervention from the professional within range, will make adjustments based on the environment where they're in and on the question that the patient asked and provide them with new settings and then say, try this, here's your original. They can always keep with the original, or they can actually update the devices with the new settings. And to me, that's another way of meeting the patient need, we'll still engage with the professional to say, here's adjustments that were made. But the ultimate judge of our success is the patient. If he or she is saying, yes, that's better, I'm doing better in this situation, I always want to go to the healthcare professional for the challenging situations, or if there's a physical adjustment that needs to be made, or some other issue that requires a face-to-face or even a virtual visit. But we find that this telehair AI feature has been met with great enthusiasm on the part of patients and even professionals to help them handle minor tweaks that can make a big difference in the patient's outcome. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Blaise Delfino:

Brendan, as it relates to the latest AI features that we have with Omega AI, what are you most excited about?

Brandon Sawalich:

You know, if first I mean we mentioned, I mean, it's it's all about the sound because you know it what AI and DNN uh and our 360 and and spatial and directionality and it's incredible. And you know, putting that all together in that ecosystem and and putting it in on the chip with our our uh uh engineers have done a great job doing and you know there's so many features I could go down, but it's the ones that we keep getting uh improving on. Uh we keep improving um our fall detection. Um we now have uh the balance builder, um, and you know, also you know the language translator. And it's that's one where there's a long-term goal there. We keep improving, but you know, our intent was you know simultaneous transl translation where the hearing aid becomes the personal assistant with with hearing, health, and your day. And you know, we're seeing those, you know, those dots start to connect. Because I you've you know many have heard me mention the you know, Iron Man fan. I watched all the Marvel movies with my my son, and and it's Jarvis in the air. It's you know gonna be talking to you and as you need it to and help you throughout the day. So each generation, each release, um, and they're gonna be seeing a lot from Starkey. I mean, we're we're moving fast, and that's that's the way the world and the way technology is going. So if it's better, we're gonna get it out. And it's it's getting there uh uh quicker and quicker.

Blaise Delfino:

Brandon, you always say Starkey will be in five years, Starkey will be ten years ahead. What does that look like? You you are absolutely a visionary leader. You're again most tenured CEO in the industry. Uh you're you're making these bold decisions. What does that look like 10 years from now? Well that you can share.

Brandon Sawalich:

I think there will be a convergence because you have uh you have the digital patient and the traditional patient now. I don't believe, as Dave was just talking about with our telehere AI, it's you know, you're not gonna be able to mail these to the patient or have somebody uh fit themselves. Um I don't see that anytime soon. Those are revenue plays by other players that are just trying to um make make money. When you focus on the patient, again, it's that uh ecosystem where we're helping them throughout the day, not just with hearing. So it really is a hearing enhancer. Well, it's a superpower. I write. I mean you're we're making the era superpower, the devices, you know, um incredibly intelligent, they can adapt to the individual's personalized need throughout the day. And you know, to be 10 years ahead and it's it's it's the sound too because people have to forget you know they're wearing it. And right now, there's days, well, most of the day, unless I think about it, I forget I'm wearing mine. And you know, it's it's really when that you know that that fitting and the product, it's so light and invisible, even though there's a lot of technology packed in. Um, you know, if they forget it, they're gonna turn around and go home and get it. You know, that's that's kind of the goal. It's something you just can't live without uh throughout your day.

Blaise Delfino:

What what I'm personally most excited about, not only with Starkey's continuous innovation, but growing up in a hearing home. Okay, I remember the Hypro box and all the cables and just connecting these devices to all these different um intermediary devices to really power them and program them.

Brandon Sawalich:

Um I was smiling because I hyper, remember the a product that one people would sell is uh uh make sure all the cords didn't get tangled up. Yes. Your cord or sorry when you were saying the hyper bots that popped out of my head. Boy, we really got we had them hanging on the wall.

Blaise Delfino:

They looked at the biggest thing. You're just hanging on the wall, and then all the manufacturers say, Do you need more cables? No, no, I need less. I need less and I'm okay. Yeah. So for me, it's like I love to see this innovation and having fit patients with Livio, and then it was evolved, and I'm excited to help, you know, some friends and neighbors maybe get into Omega because having that passion for connecting people to people through better hearing, and that's what you've said for many years, Brandon. Um, the technology is a third of the equation. And and Dave, hearing care professionals, again, you hear AI and it's like, I don't want to be replaced with this technology. The fact that we have data logging and we've had data logging for many years, but now Starkey's really taking data logging to a whole other um dimension, if you will. How is Starkey leveraging the data not only for better fittings, but really for broader health outcomes, like Brandon had mentioned your um balance builder?

Dave Fabry:

Sure. Um well, first of all, yeah, indeed.

Blaise Delfino:

Even for cognitive and emotional wellness. Right.

Dave Fabry:

Data logging has been um included in our software for a long time, and I really wonder how many professionals really look at all the information that's in there about not only, I mean, first and foremost, when people are using uh data logging, they're they're double checking when the patient says, yeah, I'm wearing them all the time, and then they see they're wearing them a few hours a day. Fortunately, we don't see that anymore. You know, now it's routine that the patients that I'm working with 14, 16 hours a day or more on average. But then beyond that, we can break down are they in quiet or noisy environments? How often are they in windy environments? Those are all I'm the things that I look at in the data logging screen help me determine what sorts of adjustments and adaptations I'll make based on feedback that the patient's providing me. And there's a wealth of information in there about the average uh level of the environments that they're in, what percentage of time they're in each of the different acoustic classes, quiet, noisy, windy, et cetera. Um what other types of environments that we can look at to customize and personalize based on how often they're in uh noisy or a variety of different listening environments. And that's the first thing I use with data logging. And then uh but but we're using that to really also help predict a patient who might be um uh at risk of returning devices. We've helped it and uh to help professionals use data logging to lower their return for credit, increase their patient satisfaction.

Blaise Delfino:

I always would say in practice, we don't want to see the patient walking in with their bag at the first follow-up because that was always like, oh no. This morning, as as I was you know driving to Starkey's campus, of course, I was thinking about today's um interview and spatial awareness, Omega AI. I liken that to, you know, in in my world with this audio engineering and having you know cut different records and that. I think it's like traditional technology having like horse blinders.

Brandon Sawalich:

Yeah.

Blaise Delfino:

And and it's like when you pan when you're recording music and and the drums and the guitar, you're not gonna run it right up that audio channel. You're gonna pan maybe the snare drum to the left a little bit and maybe some of the cymbals to the right. And as I was learning more about Omega AI yesterday, I couldn't help, but it's like this is like putting a stereo expander on a on a track that I've recorded to just open it up. And what that does is it makes me, the listener, kind of relaxed, enjoy the sound. So it's so where did that come from? The spatial awareness.

Brandon Sawalich:

And I mean, well, I bring us through this. I mean, it's I remember a conversation back in 2017. Um, it was with um Achen had just started at Starkey as our chief technical officer, and and uh it was with John Kendridge. And um I sat down and we were, you know, then our roadmap was, you know, not very solid. There was, you know, we were in the middle of kind of I was getting new talent and leadership, setting a direction for Starkey, etc. And I always in the back of my head, you know, talking with Bill and knowing the industry and the patient and and you know, uh Dave and others is people buy hearing aids why. They want to hear better noise, right? They want to hear better. Usually it's gotta be a situation where motivates them to do something, take action. And I sat down with John, I was, you know, in my um, you know, trying to paint the picture or what if or imagine if type thing. And and you know, it's gotta be the best sounding hearing a we want the best, I don't care if you call it 3D, 4D, 5D, but we gotta have you know sound clarity and surround sound, right? And and that whole immersion uh experience where it's you know it is natural, they forget they're wearing it. You know, I'm just going on explaining it. And that was really the onset of Genesis. And you know, we it was Project Genesis then, and then we liked it so much we named the product that in 2023. And we so we set course on the chip, the talent, and it takes time, you know. We we push the boundaries and and push it as far as technology allows us and our products, and so it's really again adding we had the the the sound quality, and we continue to improve that each generation with the AI and our uh neuroprocessor, and then it's getting that full immersion with the spatial sound. So it's it's in steps, but as I was saying earlier, that's what I love about this is I feel like I'm in um you know that 3D, 3D mode. I like to say 4D because it's different, but you know what I mean. It's it's you know, I feel that I have full command of what's all around me through the product. Trevor Burrus, Jr. And you talk about safety of the patient. Yeah. Yeah.

Blaise Delfino:

Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Dave Fabry:

Well, and and and just uh to add on a couple of those points, uh the U.S. has one of, I think one of, if not the highest binaural fitting rate in the world, uh well over 80 percent, 83 percent, I think, according to the latest Market Track survey. So basically every professional who's seeing a patient who has measurable hearing uh in both ears is going in with the expectation you're gonna fit both ears. You got two ears, two eyes, you're no one's walking around with a monocle anymore. And and it's crazy to me that people although our technology will work with one-eared listeners, it's optimized for that spatial awareness. You need both ears to really give you that acoustic depth process. Binaural summation. That binaural summation. And what we do with the technology is minimize uh the processing delays so that that really is something we hear from longtime hearing aid users, is what gives them this one element of the 360 spatial awareness. We're talking about DNN 360. But I want to uh uh uh go a little deeper on why and what is so important about the DNN 360, and that is this is the industry's first device that not only uses noise management that is optimized, personalized for the individual on the on the basis of the DNN training for speech and noise and other environmental sounds, but it also incorporates directionality. So this is the industry's first product that is incorporating the DNN with noise management that improves sound quality and comfort and ease of listening, plus directionality to get directly to that signal-to-noise ratio improvement, up to 13 dB improvement in ambient uh environments and diffuse noise. 28% on Michelle Hicks and her team uh measured 28% improvement in in speech understanding, which is, as Brandon said, in noise, which is all it's what it's all about. The other element, though, someone could say, oh, well, we have adaptive directionality. Well, there's a very strong differentiator between DNN 360 with the DNN optimized for noise management, directionality plus uh the ability to use the IMUs, the inertial measurement units that we introduced into the hearing aid space in 2018, so that now uh in that same thing that would track the physical activity. Now we can start thinking, and Brandon, you said it, sometimes you're walking with someone on your right-hand side, and you may want to listen to them. Most of the time we're looking at what we want to hear, but there are occasions where now with the inertial measurement unit, as the person's walking along at 90 degrees relative to what's in front of me, I can see the DNN model training to adapt for that person that's moving alongside of me in tandem. So what DNN 360 does, spatial awareness through um uh matching and minimizing phase delays between the two ears, directionality and noise management, and now starting to think about the other integration of other sensors like the inertial measurement units. And that opens up the sky, is the limit, really, in terms of where we can go with personalized speech understanding, sound quality, and even movement. Integrated in and trained on the DNN model.

Brandon Sawalich:

Trevor Burrus, Jr.: Technology is so smart, it's superhuman. It's always thinking and it's always on. And you're doing all that that you described. Trevor Burrus, Jr.: And 51 hours of battery life. We still have not, we've, you know, with our engineers and our team, we know the importance of battery life, and we've not sacrificed battery life. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Dave Fabry:

This is way more than adaptive directionality when you start talking about integrating microphone and inertial measurement sensors with the patient in his or her lifestyle. And that's something I think many people might think initially, well, how is it different from adaptive directionality? Think about where we're going. As Brandon said, we don't want to be where the puck is now. We want to be where the puck is going to be. And we're already thinking about all of that direction.

Blaise Delfino:

Trevor Burrus, Jr.: All of those background sounds readily available for you, and you don't have to think any of it. You guys got me jacked up. I'm excited. This is this is super exciting.

Brandon Sawalich:

What do you say where we're going the next five years?

Blaise Delfino:

We're talking, of course, emerging technologies. Again, Starkey continues to push the edge of what's possible. I want to talk a little bit about health equity and access to hearing care. So emerging technologies, yes, but also what about emerging services? And Starkey's been doing that for many years. You know, we have Starkey cares. How can emerging tech be used to increase and and really improve access to underserved populations? Because that's also something that Starkey really holds dear to their heart.

Brandon Sawalich:

Yeah. I mean, we, you know, there's certain features that we have throughout all of our technology tiers. Um, you look at accessibility and affordability. You know, access, as you mentioned, Starkey Cares. We have our uh Here Now program, which we've we've had, and and uh we're providing uh the best technology to to those that qualify that can't uh that can't afford hearing. Um it's who we are, it's part of our core for over 60 years. And you know, allowing you know other features and and other care through you know our telehealth and you know, it's really education too. I mean, what we're doing in in talking to people about today's technology and cutting through the noise of the stigma, right? And really how these products um you know are um state of the art, you have access to it, here's how. Because it's been under the radar for, as we all know, for uh decades, and we know it's easy, but if you ask somebody where to go and how do they access uh a uh hearing evaluation, and then you know what is that process, because they see these commercials now or ads, I should say, on uh Facebook and everything, it's caused confusion. So we're all about having getting the right uh products and technology to the people and educating on the access.

Blaise Delfino:

And and the reason I really wanted to ask you both that question is because no matter the population, you're s you're going to implement and offer that that, for example, fall detection feature. Because that's Dave, if you want to expand on that.

Dave Fabry:

Yes, yeah. Well, first of all, I would just say that.

Blaise Delfino:

Some patients might be saying, well, um, how can I get access to this new latest and greatest technology and in terms of tier level, but Starky's always shown up for the patient.

Dave Fabry:

Yeah, Brandon said it. I mean, some things ought not know or be restricted to only those who can get the high-tier device, the highest-tier devices. Fall detection is a perfect example of that. When we launched it in 2019, we ultimately made the decision to make that feature to detect a fall and alert up to three trusted contacts in real time and make that available in everything from our 24 down to our 12 series. And so that's one way of doing this. And I think another way is really looking at now one thing we know ourselves, and Brandon has been very consistent on this, our technology in the professional's hands deliver the best outcomes. We have to meet the patient where they are and the professional where they are. Some are in retail offices, some are in clinics, some are in hospital environments. We're going to meet and try to provide our technology to deliver the best technology to the patient in the markets and in the locations where those devices exist. We're expanding.

Brandon Sawalich:

I mean, we're growing the channels, there's new, there's new and emerging channels, and there's existing channels that are growing. And you know, the patient's in charge. We know that the patient is the one that's um looking for the hearing help. It's delivered by the professional and and and serviced and cared for. And so there's areas for Starkey where this technology is so good that the patients deserve to have access to it. Period. I I fully believe that. And so there's areas uh around the world, uh channels that how people get hearing uh hearing care and uh hearing aids that we've said no to in the past that we're saying yes, because you know, we want to continue to invest in technology. Uh the people of Starkey uh are proud of the work, they're proud of the product, and we have a future, and more and more people need to hear what we're delivering.

Blaise Delfino:

Aaron Powell With AI and machine learning accelerating rapidly, uh really what what ethical considerations or you know, even clinical guardrails do you think professionals need to be mindful of moving forward?

Dave Fabry:

It's a great question. One of the um uh Gordon Moore, who people may be familiar as one of the co-founders of Intel, made a prediction in, I think it was 1965, give or take, that the number of transistors on an integrated circuit would double every two years. And people thought it was an outrageous Bhag. And they said that'll never hold true. It held true all the way until his death just a couple years ago. Um when we start talking about computational power on hearing aids for anyone who's used ChatGPT or Grok or you know, Copilot or any of the other solutions available now, that's doubling every two and a half to three months at this rate, which is incredible. So you mentioned machine learning, and and you know, not long ago, machine learning was the only real way that we could incorporate with the small size and the limited uh power uh constraints that we had with battery life, and Brennan mentioned 51 hours of battery life and f uh in in this latest product, which is still outrageous with all the DNN features. But what we've seen is an acceleration of what we can do onboard the hearing aids. And we can automate DNN 360 so that with minimal or no intervention on the part of the end user of the patient, um, it is capable of providing the best sound quality and the best signal-to-noise performance in noisy and challenging environments. But the issue is as well that the professional may feel a little disconnected from that. Okay, what's my role in this? You know, you talk about the ethical responsibility. I think moving forward, we need to continue to remain in close partnership with the audiologists, the dispensers, so that when a patient is incorporating, let's say, something like the telehere AI feature, where they're now on their own in the wild, um adapting the devices, we have a responsibility as the manufacturer to come back and say, um, here's the changes that were made. So that because now assuming our engineers are all gonna say, okay, when we incorporate all of these wonderful DNN features, that that'll be the gold standard. Right. Bill Austin, uh uh, everyone in the Center for Excellence, I know that it's not always the case that that we're gonna predict everything right because they don't know the patient like I do. And so in some of those cases, the patient may come back and say, I'm doing great. However, there's that one voice, that one my grandchild that I'm not hearing as well. And then I need to tap into that professional expertise. But I also know that now the DNN is capable of making adjustments with that telehear AI feature. We have to ensure, and it's it's my uh promise that in addition to making sure to contribute uh the the voice of the patient, but the voice of the professional has to still feel like they're engaged in this outcome. And we don't want to make them feel disenfranchised or disconnected from the patient.

Brandon Sawalich:

And and you know, that's that's a great, great point because we're advancing and bringing new technology. And it's gonna, as we said, we're doing it at a faster pace. You know, the team is is well oiled, we've got the vision, we've got the plan, we're executing. And now, and I I say this when I talk to our customer groups and in any group, is you know, they have to what are they doing to adapt and lead from a professional care? They have to change and evolve. You know, if you're in your office, what worked, you know, sometimes what's old is new, but sometimes you also have to push yourself, be comfortable, being uncomfortable, and learn new ways because we're not trying to, as we've said many times here today, we're not trying and have no intent to replace the professional. We're making certain things easier for them so they have more time to invest in developing their skills, their craft, um, their service for their patients, and then allowing them to spend more time with their patients in certain new areas and new technologies. So it's a two-way street. You know, we're we're pushing the edge and coming out with new products and uh developing the AI and DNN and technology and leading the industry. You know, I always um challenge the role of the professional is what are you doing to invest in yourself and continue to keep your skills sharp, but push yourself to learn what's new, what's next.

Dave Fabry:

You know, I'm constantly reminded by the words that Bill Austin uses quite regularly, where people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. Right. And and it's a reminder back in 2018 when we were thrilled with what Livio AI really as the first device in our industry to sort of plant a flag in AI with all we're trying to do. But we could, admittedly, from benefit of hindsight, overwhelm not only the patients but the providers with all that we were trying to accomplish. And so fundamentally the same way, you don't need to present everything that this or these devices, Omega AI, are capable of doing to every patient to paralyze them. But don't for one minute forget that we're not just making plastices of plastic with circuitry in them to look good on the ears and be cosmetically appealing. We're connecting people to other people and to the most important sounds in their life.

Blaise Delfino:

Aaron Powell Brandon, my final question for the day Starkey released edge AI. Why top yourself with Omega AI?

Brandon Sawalich:

Well, if it's better, it's better. And for it's about the patient. Again, it goes back to what I was saying. If it's best for the patient, the professional, then Starkey. You know, it costs money for development, it costs money for uh new product launches for uh all companies. Um, you know, we're looking at what's best for the patient. And being privately held, I'm not worried about stockholders or um any of that. If we have something that's even better than edge AI, uh we're coming to market with it. And I think that's gonna be kind of a new norm for Starkey. You know, the industry would always have new products every 18, two, 18 months, two years or so. And they were incremental improvements. You know, let's call it a new name, new color, give it a personality, let's rename a directional microphone or something. But uh now it's uh the the technology is advanced, what we're working on, and it's that much better. Uh, we're not gonna you know be so patient. We want to get it out because we know that we could help people. You know, we're doing great, we're growing, and it's okay to be comfortable, but this product is that good, it's worth a try. And you gotta ask yourself, why not Starkey? Well, Omega AI will uh will speak for itself.

Blaise Delfino:

Brandon Swalic, president, CEO of Starkey, and the most tenured CEO in the hearing health care industry. And of course, we had Dr. Dave Fabry, Chief Hearing Health Officer at Starkey. Again, I want to thank you both so much for sitting down with me today on the Hearing Matters Podcast. Thank you for your mentorship, and most importantly, thank you for your leadership because it really does help patients hear better and live better. This is the Hearing Matters Podcast. I'm your host, Blaise Delfino, and until next time, hear life's story.

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Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - HIS

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