New AI-equipped hearing aids can 'detect falls'

Hearing aids are the latest device to be equipped with artificial intelligence (AI).

Livio AI has just launched in Australia. It has inbuilt sensors that detect if the person wearing it has a fall.

Judy Grobstein, education and training audiologist from Starkey Hearing Technology, said this hearing aid is the first its kind to utilise AI.

"Artificial intelligence has been out in some capacity all over the place, and that is the ability in this case, the hearing aid computer system to perform tasks that would have required human intelligence", she told 9News.

"The sensors in the hearing aid, there's two of them, there's an accelerometer and a gyroscope, and they're monitoring the head movement and the patient's movement in space.

"So we're looking for a specific pattern or algorithm what a fall looks like, so the sensors will pick up that fall and then it uses cloud computing to send alerts or text messages to the loved ones that they've placed in the app."

Livio AI also has the ability to play music, track physical activity and translate 27 languages using a compatible app.

Claire Ashen, 81, from Sydney says as someone who lives alone, it would give "peace of mind" as she gets older.

"Being on my own, I think it's important that we've got to be aware we can fall," she told 9News.

"I think it's wonderful, as we age we have these technological advances that help us with our ageing because we're all living longer."

But peace of mind comes at a cost. The device is priced at the top end of the market.

Hearing loss affects one in six Australians. With an ageing population, that's expected to increase to one in four by 2050.