Binaural hearing aid SoC prototype

SmartHeAP, the smart hearing aid processor, is based on Cadence’ Tensilica G6 DSP and LX7 processor intellectual property, designed on Cadence’ flow and made on GloFo’s 22FDX FD-SoI platform – 22FDX has adaptive body bias to save power, and can produce devices that work with a 500mV Vdd.

Binaural in this case means that the right and left aids communicate “enabling a wearer to pick up sounds from the full auditory scene without destroying the binaural cues”, said Cadence.

Algorithms on the IC analyse the incoming signal and implement adaptive amplification adjustable to individual wearers.

Financial support came from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.