ARPA-H launches groundbreaking program to restore natural hearing through first brain-driven hearing system

New research funding opportunity to transform how individuals with hearing loss actually hear in complex, real world environments 

The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), today announced the Hearing Enhancement through Artificially Intelligent Neurotechnology (HEARING) program, a research funding opportunity to develop the first-ever minimally invasive hearing system that works directly with the brain’s own hearing centers to restore clearer, more effortless hearing for people with age-related and other forms of hearing loss.  

In the United States, more than 70 million Americans suffer from hearing loss, and it is associated with more than $200 billion in medical spending, lost wages and productivity each year. Age related hearing loss is the second most common health problem in older adults, and it has recently been identified as a risk marker for dementia. Even when using today’s most advanced hearing aids or implants, many people still struggle to understand speech in noisy places.  

Current devices are programmed to respond to sound in the environment, which can limit everyday communication, particularly for older adults, veterans, and workers in high-noise occupations. HEARING will seek to solve this problem by shifting hearing restoration focus from the ear alone to addressing hearing loss as a neurological condition of the auditory cortex, where the brain separates speech from noise and makes sense of what we hear. The HEARING device will allow the person to choose what to hear. 

“Restoring hearing loss is not just about increasing sound volume. It’s about the brain’s ability to select what matters, fill in what’s missing, and blur out the noise that doesn’t matter,” said Alicia Jackson, Ph.D., ARPA-H Director. “With HEARING, ARPA-H will reinvent hearing care by developing therapies that actively partner with the brain. With this new technology, someone with hearing loss could sort signal from noise in loud environments, so they don’t miss out on a single word.” 

HEARING will focus on three technical areas across multiple phases: intracortical device(s), dynamic sound modulation, and auditory read & write algorithms. Together, these components are intended to adjust sound based on the listener’s focus, reduce background noise in real time, and fill in missing sound information to restore hearing to near normal levels for people with mild to severe hearing loss. 

“Hearing restoration is ripe for major innovation. Recent advances in technology enable us to treat hearing loss as a neurological condition, not just an ear problem,” said HEARING Program Manager Calvin Roberts, M.D. “That means building a system that can read what the auditory cortex is paying attention to, use that information to control sound in real time, and write back missing pieces of sound so that speech becomes clearer. HEARING technology adjusts sound based on the listener’s focus, reduces background noise in real time, and fills in missing sound information to restore hearing close to normal.” 

ARPA-H expects that multidisciplinary teams will be needed to address the full goals of HEARING. Prospective proposers interested in responding to the solicitation are encouraged to form teams that span neuroscience, otology, biomedical engineering, microelectronics, machine learning, neuromodulation, clinical audiology, and regulatory science.  

The technologies developed by HEARING will restore more natural, dynamic hearing. HEARING has the potential to improve quality of life and reduce social isolation, depression, and cognitive decline associated with untreated or inadequately treated hearing loss. 

Learn more about HEARING on its program page, including submission deadlines and Proposers’ Day registration.