Sonova Unveils Phonak EON: Third-Gen AI-Powered Hearing Aid With 2x Speech Clarity

Sonova unveils new AI-powered hearing-aid platform to support growth targets

Aug 24 (Reuters) - Sonova (SOON.S), opens new tab launched its third hearing-aid platform utilising real-time AI on Monday, its latest effort to strengthen its position in a market that relies on rapid technology upgrades to shorten replacement cycles and attract first-time users. The Swiss company was the first one to roll out a hearing aid that used real-time AI to separate speech from background noise in 2024. Anders Rosengren, the head of research and development at ⁠Sonova, said the new Phonak EON platform offers a smaller, lighter device with an advanced AI that makes speech twice as understandable while requiring less listening effort. The new platform is likely to be viewed as an important factor for Sonova to reach its medium-term growth targets that were met with investor scepticism in March. "We expect EON adoption to build quickly among both replacement and new customers," said Oliver Lux, president ⁠of Sonova's EMEA and Latin America regions. While Sonova did not disclose pricing details, Lux said EON was designed to support the company's premium market positioning at launch. Monday's U.S. launch will be followed by Australia and key European ⁠markets including Germany, France, Italy and Britain in mid-September, before a broader global roll-out. Sonova continues to see positive market dynamics across its key markets, and especially ⁠in Asia-Pacific and Latin America, Lux said. Under CEO Eric Bernard, who took office last September, Sonova has increasingly highlighted Asia-Pacific as a key growth ⁠region, where it seeks to expand volumes and strengthen its presence in faster-growing markets that are buoyed by ageing populations. Reporting by Anastasiia Kozlova and Amir Orusov in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Phonak's new EON hearing aids run two AI systems on a chip built to sip power

The Sonova brand says its new HYPERSONIC processor cuts power draw by 37% while running speech separation and scene classification at once. Phonak has launched EON, a hearing aid platform built around a newly developed processor the company calls HYPERSONIC, which it says runs two artificial intelligence systems in parallel while drawing 37% less power than the generation before it. The Sonova-owned brand is pitching the release at the two problems that have defined the category for years, which are understanding speech in noise and making the devices worth what they cost. The first of the two systems, Spheric Speech Clarity 3.0, uses a deep neural network to separate speech from background noise as it arrives. The second, AutoSense OS AI 8.0, classifies the surrounding sound environment and adjusts which features are running to suit it, so the wearer is not expected to switch programmes manually as they move between a restaurant and a street. Running both at once is the part the chip is there to make possible. "With the HYPERSONIC chip, we have engineered a significant step forward in power efficiency without compromising real-time AI performance," said Anders Rosengren, Sonova's chief R&D officer. The efficiency gain shows up in physical size and battery life. EON is 25% smaller and 20% lighter than the previous Sphere generation, according to Phonak, and runs for up to 38 hours on a charge, which is generous for a device that has to fit behind an ear and process audio continuously. On performance, the company cites its own testing rather than third-party benchmarks. Phonak says wearers using Spheric Speech Clarity 3.0 are twice as likely to understand every word spoken from any direction compared with the same hearing aids configured identically but without the feature enabled. Wind gets its own subsystem. WindBlock 2.0 reduces wind noise by up to 50 dB and can improve the signal-to-noise ratio by as much as 30 dB, which addresses one of the more consistent complaints from people who wear hearing aids outdoors. The connectivity story is where EON is most clearly aimed at the wider consumer audio market. Phonak describes the platform as Made-For-All, meaning it pairs with essentially any Bluetooth device rather than requiring a particular phone, and it combines Bluetooth Classic with the company's own Roger Direct wireless microphone protocol and with Auracast. Auracast matters more than its billing suggests. The broadcast standard, part of the Bluetooth LE Audio specification, lets a venue transmit audio to an unlimited number of receivers at once, so a museum, theatre, or airport gate can send its audio straight into a wearer's ears instead of through a loop system installed decades ago. The practical value of that is easiest to see in the places where assistive listening has historically been worst served, such as a departure lounge announcement or a guided tour, since the wearer joins the broadcast directly rather than hunting for a receiver at a desk. Phonak is shipping three configurations rather than one. Audéo EON Sphere and Audéo EON R both cover mild to profound hearing loss, while CROS EON R is built for unilateral loss, routing sound from the unaided side across to the better ear, and the range comes in eight colours. "EON sets a new benchmark for intelligent hearing," said Josipa Kern, global head of Phonak. "It brings together the capabilities that matter most in daily life: understanding speech, adapting automatically and staying connected with confidence." Licensed hearing care professionals in the United States could place orders from Monday, with Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Australia, and further markets following in September. Phonak has not published pricing, which is normal for a category sold through clinicians and shaped by national reimbursement schemes rather than list prices. That distribution model is the quiet context for a launch like this one. Hearing aids remain a prescription-adjacent product fitted by professionals, even as consumer earbuds have moved into the same territory from the other direction, and the specification sheets on both sides are converging faster than the channels that sell them.

Sonova unveils new AI-powered hearing-aid platform to support growth targets

The Swiss company was the first one to ⁠roll ⁠out a hearing aid that used real-time AI to separate speech from background noise in 2024. Sonova launched its third hearing-aid platform utilising real-time AI on Monday, its latest effort to strengthen its position in a market that relies on rapid technology upgrades to shorten replacement cycles and attract first-time users. The Swiss company was the first one to ⁠roll ⁠out a hearing aid that used real-time AI to separate speech from background noise in 2024. Anders Rosengren, the head of research and development at Sonova, said the new Phonak EON platform offers a smaller, lighter device with an advanced AI that makes speech twice as understandable while requiring less listening ⁠effort. The new platform is likely to be viewed as an important factor for Sonova to reach its medium-term growth targets ⁠that were met with investor scepticism in March. "We expect EON adoption to build quickly among both replacement and new customers," said Oliver Lux, president of Sonova's EMEA and Latin America regions. While Sonova did not disclose pricing details, Lux said EON was designed to support the company's premium market positioning at launch. Monday's U.S. launch will be followed by Australia and key European markets including Germany, France, Italy and Britain in mid-September, before a broader global roll-out. Sonova ⁠continues to see positive market dynamics across its key markets, and especially in Asia-Pacific and Latin America, Lux said. Under CEO Eric Bernard, who took office last September, Sonova has increasingly highlighted Asia-Pacific as a key growth region, where it seeks to expand volumes and strengthen its presence in faster-growing markets that are buoyed by ageing populations.

Sonova bets on a new generation of AI-powered hearing aids

Sonova has launched Phonak EON, its third hearing-aid platform using real-time artificial intelligence, to support its medium-term growth ambitions. The Swiss group, which in 2024 was the first to offer a hearing aid able to distinguish speech from background noise in real time using AI, is now introducing a smaller, lighter device. According to Sonova, its advanced technology makes speech twice as intelligible while reducing listening effort. The group expects rapid adoption of EON, both among users upgrading their devices and new customers. Without disclosing pricing, Sonova said it designed the platform to reinforce its premium positioning. After its US launch, EON will arrive in mid-September in Australia and in several major European markets, including Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom, ahead of a broader global rollout. The innovation is expected to help meet the medium-term growth targets presented in March, which had fueled investor skepticism. Sonova is also seeing positive momentum in its core markets, notably in Asia-Pacific and Latin America. Under Eric Bernard, chief executive since last September, the group is aiming in particular to speed up in Asia-Pacific, where an aging population and faster growth in certain markets offer development opportunities.