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The facts about DNNs in Hearing Aids
May 21, 2025
Published by Phonak Team
You've likely seen terms like “AI-powered” or “DNNs” when it comes to better hearing. But the truth is, not all AI hearing technology provides the same real-life benefits. In fact, the benefits can vary more than you think. So, the real question is: does it actually help you hear better in the moments that matter? Let’s break it down.
First, what's a DNN?
A DNN, or Deep Neural Network, is a type of artificial intelligence that learns like your brain. In the case of hearing aids, it can help recognize and focus on the sounds that matter - like speech - while reducing those that don't, like background noise.
A DNN consists of multiple layers of artificial neurons, structured similarly to the neurons in the human brain. Just like your brain learns from experience, a DNN learns by recognizing patterns. In the case of hearing aids, a DNN will learn to recognize patterns in sound. When it’s trained on real-world, high-quality sounds, it can become exceptionally good at helping you hear speech clearly, even in the most complex, noisy environments like restaurants or crowded events.
But here’s the catch! Not all hearing aids with DNNs deliver the same listening experience.
Why DNN size matters
Yes - bigger really is better!
Think of a DNN like an animal’s brain. The larger the brain, and the more densely-packed the neurons, the “smarter” the creature is. Similarly, in the world of hearing aids, the more layers and "neurons" per layer in the DNN, the more complex and intelligent its "thinking” becomes.
- A small DNN with only a single layer? That’s like the brain of a frog with limited learning capacity.
- A large DNN with many layers? That’s more like a human’s brain - capable of complex decisions and nuanced understanding.
And here's why that matters:
A large DNN can be trained to recognize patterns from bigger data sets, meaning it has access to more information to make smarter decisions. For instance, the DNN in Infinio Sphere has been trained with over 22 million real-world sound samples, enabling it to intelligently detect speech from background noise with incredible accuracy.
So, when it comes to understanding the intent of a listener in a conversation, would you trust the frog or the human?
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Real-world benefits for you
Most hearing aid brands use small DNNs with pretty limited benefits. They might offer traditional background noise reduction, simply turning noise reduction on or off depending on if there’s speech in noise, or just noise.
But the most advanced and unique hearing aids take it to the next level.
Take Infinio Sphere, for example. It uses a large, highly-trained DNN to instantly separate speech from noise in real-time, delivering a crystal-clear listening experience, even in the most complex, noisy environments.
This resulting benefit of the DNN in Infinio Sphere is called Spheric Speech Clarity. This is achieved when the DNN extracts the speech, enhances it, and then integrates it back into the output for the user to hear.
With up to 3x better speech understanding from any direction,* you’ll walk into any room with confidence that you’ll catch the conversations – no matter where it’s coming from.
This is an entirely new standard of hearing clarity, equipped with advanced AI, and designed with purpose for real-world benefits.
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Footnotes
*Compared to two leading competitors, for moderate to moderately-severe hearing losses
1 Wright, A., Kuehnel, V., Keller, M., Seitz-Paquette, K., Latzel, M. (2024). “Spheric Speech Clarity applies DNN signal processing to significantly improve speech understanding from any direction and reduce the listening effort.” Phonak Field Study News retrieved from www.phonak.com/evidence
2 Wright, A., et al “Spheric Speech Clarity applies DNN signal processing to significantly improve speech understanding from any direction and reduce the listening effort.” Phonak Field Study. News in preparation expected August 2024