CES 2018: Nuheara’s smart earbuds let you control how you hear

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As more and more Americans struggle with hearing loss because of advanced age and other reasons, it was just a matter of time before technology answered the call. Money expert Clark Howard, who is in Las Vegas this week for CES, the annual international consumer electronics show, happened upon the makers of Nuheara, an audio wearables company based in Australia with offices in New York and San Francisco.

The company makes smart earbuds that use a person’s hearing limitations to craft a unique audio solution driven by technology.

Nuheara’s smart earbuds optimize your hearing for the world around you

Nuheara earbuds use what is called “digital signal processing” to orchestrate how you hear the world around you, company exec David Cannington told Clark radio show Executive Producer Kim Drobes. By lowering certain noises in the background or heightening frequencies in different environments, users can also customize how and what they hear.

If you have minor hearing issues, these could be just what you need. “It’s very much designed for people with mild to moderate hearing challenges,” Cannington said. “What we’re doing is using a software solution that is actually being used by a large number of audiologists around the world.”

Paired with a smartphone, users have access to Bluetooth and streaming capabilities and can toggle between music and their surroundings or — get this — mix the two in any suitable concoction according to their audio preferences.

Also launching this year is the company’s IQbuds Boost, which offers even more personalization. The Boost takes advantage of “Ear ID” software, which allows Nuheara to measure your hearing threshold and analyze it through an AI engine and calibrate it to come up with a unique and customized hearing process, Cannington told Team Clark.

Where to find them: Potential customers can sign up for preorder now at Nuheara.com.

Price: The IQbuds will retail for $299; the Boosts will be between $400 and $500.

Clark’s takeaway: “This Nuheara product is part of a new wave that’s going to make it so much more affordable for people and more approachable for people to deal with hearing loss,” Clark says. “It’s one of the areas where I hear so much unhappiness from people about hearing aids, how expensive they are, how uncomfortable they are, how frustrated they are by them, and this is a great breakthrough.”

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