Fortell’s Palm Beach Gardens clinic uses AI to enhance hearing aids

Fortell AI hearing aids use artificial intelligence to separate speech from background noise. [Photos by Fortell]

For people with hearing loss, family dinner conversations can be difficult to follow even when everyone at the table is close. Voices compete with music, clattering dishes and nearby conversations.

Dr. Mitch Aquilina understands that frustration all too well. He is an audiologist and clinic director at the recently opened Fortell hearing clinic in Palm Beach Gardens. During his 10 years in practice, background noise has been a persistent complaint from patients, including those wearing hearing aids.

Aquilina says he joined Fortell because of its approach to reducing background noise and the team’s commitment to helping people hear better.

Fortell expanded its hearing care services from New York to Palm Beach County in June, initially in a temporary space. In late September the company opened its Palm Beach Gardens office at 100 Village Square Crossing, Suite 104, offering hearing evaluations, demonstrations and personalized fittings.

Aquilina says conventional hearing aids can struggle to lower background noise without also reducing the speech a person wants to hear. “What Fortell does differently is it separates out the speech signal from the background noise before addressing any of the amplification.”

He describes the process as AI source separation. The Fortell AI hearing aids use their microphones and artificial intelligence to separate incoming sound into two streams: speech and background noise. Those streams are mixed back together with speech more prominent.

The goal is to make conversations easier to follow while keeping the wearer aware of surrounding sounds. Aquilina says the technology reduces the prominence of background noise rather than eliminate it.

“You want to hear a fire alarm. You want to hear a car honking. We don’t want to eliminate that,” he says.

At the clinic, the evaluation goes beyond testing what patients can hear in a quiet room. Along with a traditional hearing test and speech testing, Aquilina measures how well a person understands speech amid background noise.

Testing in noise helps him understand the situations patients find challenging and tailor their care accordingly. Patients can then try hearing aids programmed for their hearing needs. Those who already wear hearing aids can compare their current devices with Fortell’s.

The demonstration may include stepping outside to listen to speech alongside road noise.

“We just go out and try to find background noise anywhere, and they’re able to sample the environment,” Aquilina says.

Patients can be fitted and leave with their new hearing aids during the same appointment.

The prescription devices are designed for adults with mild to severe hearing loss.

Aquilina says some patients have contacted him within a day or two of their fittings to describe following a colleague’s conversation in a crowded airport or participating in dinner conversations with family. Those accounts are individual experiences, but they reflect the everyday situations he hopes to improve.

Such assistance is personal for Aquilina. Growing up, he saw how a close family member’s hearing loss affected his family.

Fortell’s hearing aids are listed for $6,800 per pair, including five years of audiology care, a three-year warranty and a 100-day home trial. Returns during the trial receive a refund minus a $300 fitting fee.

Aquilina says Fortell is outside insurance networks, but the clinic helps patients prepare documentation to seek reimbursement when their plans offer applicable benefits.

For appointments or more information, call 561-282-0850, or visit fortell.com.

“I’m seeing patients that I’ve known for decades,” Aquilina says. Bringing the technology to the community where he grew up, he adds, makes the work especially rewarding.