Want This Hearing Aid? Well, Who Do You Know?

"It's whispered in the circles of financial masters of the universe, Hollywood stars, and owners of sports teams. Have you heard about Fortell? Many haven't-or if they did hear, they might not have made out the words through noisy cross-conversations. Once they do know-particularly if they're boomers-they want it desperately. Fortell is a hearing aid, one that claims to use AI to provide a dramatically superior aural experience."

"These testers have made pilgrimages to Fortell's headquarters on the fifth floor of a WeWork facility in New York City's trendy SoHo neighborhood, where they were fitted for the hearing aids-which from the outside look pretty much like standard, over-the-ear, teardrop-shaped devices. But the big moment comes when a Fortell staffer takes them down to street level. There, among street clatter, honking cabs, and delivery trucks backing up to luxury stores, they are asked to conduct a conversation with a Fortell worker."

""This was so incredible that I burst into tears," says Ashley Tudor, one of the seemingly few beta testers who isn't famous or powerful (though she is married to a venture capitalist)."

Fortell is an AI-enhanced hearing aid that claims to deliver markedly improved speech clarity in noisy environments. Wealthy and famous individuals have joined an exclusive beta that has become a social status marker. Testers are fitted at Fortell's SoHo headquarters and then taken to the street to verify performance amid urban noise, where many report clearly hearing conversations despite surrounding clamor. The devices resemble standard teardrop-shaped over-the-ear aids. Beta users say Fortell appears to outperform existing high-end hearing aids, eliciting strong emotional reactions and intense demand among older users.

Read at WIRED