The Swiss company Sonova presented on Tuesday (6) a hearing aid that uses artificial intelligence (AI) in real time to improve speech clarity in relation to background noise, being the first product of its kind on the global market, which caused its shares to rise 5%.
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Along with the hearing aid, called Sphere Infinio, Sonova is launching a new platform called Infinio. “The launch of both, the new platform and the product, must be a surprise for the market, because no one knew that this technology and this benefit (AI in real time), which is quite significant, isariam available to anyone this year,” CEO Arnd Kaldowski told Reuters in an interview.
“This looks like a big step forward for Sonova,” Urs Kunz, an analyst at Research Partners AG, said in an email. Unlike its main rivals – Italy's Amplifon and Denmark's Demant and GN Store Nord (GN.CO) – which warned about profits this summer, Sonova stuck to its full-year targets.
“Our first impression is that Sonova has launched an exciting product platform, which is likely to accelerate growth in the second half of 2024/25,” said Carnegie analyst Niels Granholm-Leth in a note to clients.
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The hearing aid industry has shown signs of weaker market dynamics in Europe it is us USA, while analysts also highlighted the strong competition in the market. “We will need to see how the market evolves and how customers react to the products. But we are fine with our full-year guidance, even with the market currently a little slower,” Kaldowski said.
The Sphere Infinio uses new DEEPSONIC chip technology, which has 53 times more processing power than currently used by the hearing aid industry, Sonova said in a statement.
The company sees Infinio and its existing Lumity platform as key drivers of future growth for its hearing aid business, which represents about half of its total sales.
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