Hearing App Company Looks for Integration With Connected TVs, Smart Speakers

Sonitum brought its SonicCloud app for the hearing-impaired to a Venetian suite at CES, hoping to interest TV and smart speaker makers in integrating the software as a product feature. The $10 per month app, which includes a phone call plan, is said to boost audibility on a smartphone for users with hearing loss. A guided on-phone assessment process helps users create a “hearing fingerprint” based on their unique hearing, then use the profile on phone calls or while listening to music or movies. Different profiles can be tagged to names in a phone’s contact list so sonic adjustments are automatically made for that contact when a call comes in. The technology is based on digital sound processing algorithms targeted to speech understanding and clarity, said the company. Film director Larry Guterman, chief customer experience officer, helped develop SonicCloud to address his own hearing loss.