Latest news with #Hearvana
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Seattle's AI2-Backed Hearvana Launches Superhuman Hearing Capabilities For Billions Of Devices, Created By Google-Acquired Innovator
A new Seattle-based startup, Hearvana, is making waves in the audio technology industry. Founded by University of Washington computer science professor Shyam Gollakota and PhD student Malek Itani, Hearvana is developing superhuman hearing capabilities for everyday devices. These advancements are poised to be integrated into billions of earbuds, hearing aids, and smartphones, according to GeekWire. The company is being incubated by the AI2 Incubator, part of the Allen Institute for AI, which was founded by Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) co-founder Paul Allen. The incubator was launched by AI2's founding CEO Oren Etzioni to support early-stage AI startups, according to the institute's website. The company aims to use artificial intelligence to make hearing seamless, personalized, and radically more powerful for billions of users, GeekWire reports. Don't Miss: Hasbro, MGM, and Skechers trust this AI marketing firm — 'Scrolling To UBI' — Deloitte's #1 fastest-growing software company allows users to earn money on their phones. Gollakota told GeekWire that Hearvana is 'creating AI breakthroughs that are shaping the future of sound,' adding that their 'AI algorithms enable on-device superhuman hearing capabilities and will be part of billions of earbuds, hearing aids, and smartphones.' Hearvana's technology focuses on real-time audio filtering, letting users choose what they want to hear while blocking out everything else. According to GeekWire, the company's AI can locate sound sources, understand their distance, and build what Gollakota and his team describe as a "sound bubble." This innovation solves a pain point nearly everyone experiences, trying to follow a conversation in a noisy restaurant or crowded event. The algorithms run directly on a device, meaning no data needs to be sent to the cloud, GeekWire reports. Trending: Maker of the $60,000 foldable home has 3 factory buildings, 600+ houses built, and big plans to solve housing — Hearvana's early research, published in November by Gollakota and Itani, demonstrated headphones that adjust dynamically to noise and user focus. The team believes this approach could soon set the standard in next-generation audio technology, aligning with the broader professional audiovisual market, which is projected to reach $422 billion globally by 2029, according to AVIXA's 2024 Industry Outlook and Trends Analysis. Hearvana's founding team blends academic excellence with real-world traction. Gollakota is no stranger to startup success. According to GeekWire, he previously co-founded Sound Life Sciences, which developed smartphone-based breathing detection and was acquired by Google in 2022. He also co-founded Wavely Diagnostics, a smartphone app that detects ear infections. The startup's team brings together expertise from academia and industry. Itani, who previously interned at Meta (NASDAQ:META), worked on smart glasses during his time at the tech giant, GeekWire reports. The team's work has already drawn support from Oren Etzioni, technical director at AI2 Incubator.'Hearvana is my favorite kind of startup,' Etzioni told GeekWire. 'It addresses a familiar pain point — we all struggle to hear in noisy settings like a restaurant or a party — with deep AI technology.' Hearvana is also actively hiring as it gears up to scale its impact. In a recent LinkedIn post, Gollakota announced the company is looking for passionate candidates to help shape "the future of sound." The startup is currently recruiting for two key roles: a founding deep learning engineer and a founding acoustic simulation engineer. As Hearvana continues to develop its technology, the company may make significant contributions to the field of audio processing. By combining cutting-edge AI with practical applications, Hearvana aims to enhance the auditory experience for users worldwide. Read Next: Invest where it hurts — and help millions heal:. Deloitte's fastest-growing software company partners with Amazon, Walmart & Target – Image: Shutterstock UNLOCKED: 5 NEW TRADES EVERY WEEK. Click now to get top trade ideas daily, plus unlimited access to cutting-edge tools and strategies to gain an edge in the markets. Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? MICROSOFT (MSFT): Free Stock Analysis Report This article Seattle's AI2-Backed Hearvana Launches Superhuman Hearing Capabilities For Billions Of Devices, Created By Google-Acquired Innovator originally appeared on © 2025 Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. Sign in to access your portfolio
Geek Wire
13-05-2025
- Business
- Geek Wire
AI startup led by UW computer science whiz enables ‘superhuman hearing capabilities'
GeekWire's startup coverage documents the Pacific Northwest entrepreneurial scene. Sign up for our weekly startup newsletter , and check out the GeekWire funding tracker and venture capital directory . Shyam Gollakota. A new stealthy Seattle startup is taking sound technology to a whole new dimension. Hearvana was just founded by University of Washington computer science researchers. Shyam Gollakota, co-founder of Hearvana, told GeekWire that the company is 'creating AI breakthroughs that are shaping the future of sound.' 'Our AI algorithms enable on-device superhuman hearing capabilities and will be part of billions of earbuds, hearing aids and smartphones,' he said. 'It is an exciting time.' Gollakota, a renowned tech inventor and researcher, said the company is developing unique AI models to help people seamlessly choose what they want to hear in real-time. Part of the company's secret sauce is its ability to quickly process audio on a device without requiring large amounts of power or compute on a device. Hearvana is being incubated at the AI2 Incubator in Seattle. 'Hearvana is my favorite kind of startup as it addresses a familiar pain point — we all struggle to hear in noisy settings like a restaurant or a party — with deep AI technology,' said Oren Etzioni, technical director and partner at AI2 Incubator. Etzioni, the former CEO of the Allen Institute for AI, called Gollakota a 'world-class computer scientist.' Hearvana co-founder Malek Itani. Gollakota has a track record of turning research into startups. He previously co-founded Sound Life Sciences, a UW spinout that developed an app to monitor breathing that was acquired by Google in 2022. He's also the co-founder of Wavely Diagnostics, which uses a smartphone app to detect ear infections. Gollakota last year won a $100,000 award as one of six researchers honored as part of this year's Infosys Prize. His research focuses on wireless tech, battery-free devices, WiFi sensing and imaging, medical diagnostics via smartphones, and more. Malek Itani, a research assistant and PhD student at the UW's computer science school, is a co-founder of Hearvana. Itani was an intern at Meta, where he worked on smart glasses. Gollakota and Itani published research last year on a headphone prototype that uses AI to create a 'sound bubble' and can learn the distance for each sound source in a room.
Geek Wire
13-05-2025
- Business
- Geek Wire
AI translation startup led by UW computer science whiz enables ‘superhuman hearing capabilities'
GeekWire's startup coverage documents the Pacific Northwest entrepreneurial scene. Sign up for our weekly startup newsletter , and check out the GeekWire funding tracker and venture capital directory . Shyam Gollakota. A new Seattle startup is taking speech translation to a whole new dimension. Hearvana, founded this year by University of Washington computer science researchers, translates speech from multiple speakers in real time — while preserving their spatial positions and vocal identities. The idea is that you could be in a noisy setting surrounded by people speaking different languages, and still understand what's being said. 'Our system transforms your entire auditory space into your own language, preserving the unique voices of speakers, their 3D spatial positions, and doing it all in real time, even as people move,' Shyam Gollakota, co-founder of Hearvana, wrote on LinkedIn. Gollakota, a leading inventor who heads up the UW's Mobile Intelligence Lab, told GeekWire that the company is 'creating AI breakthroughs that are shaping the future of sound.' 'Our AI algorithms enable on-device superhuman hearing capabilities and will be part of billions of earbuds, hearing aids and smartphones,' he said. 'It is an exciting time.' Hearvana says its translation features go beyond what's available on existing wearables such as Meta's Ray-Ban glasses. The startup's underlying tech — dubbed 'spatial speech translation' — was detailed in a research paper published last month. The study tested translation from French, German, and Spanish into English. It outperformed baseline systems in user studies and participants praised its translation accuracy, speaker fidelity, and spatial realism. Hearvana is being incubated at the AI2 Incubator in Seattle. 'Hearvana is my favorite kind of startup as it addresses a familiar pain point — we all struggle to hear in noisy settings like a restaurant or a party — with deep AI technology,' said Oren Etzioni, technical director and partner at AI2 Incubator. Etzioni, the former CEO of the Allen Institute for AI, called Gollakota a 'world-class computer scientist.' Hearvana co-founder Malek Itani. Gollakota has a track record of turning research into startups. He previously co-founded Sound Life Sciences, a UW spinout that developed an app to monitor breathing that was acquired by Google in 2022. He's also the co-founder of Wavely Diagnostics, which uses a smartphone app to detect ear infections. Gollakota last year won a $100,000 award as one of six researchers honored as part of this year's Infosys Prize. His research focuses on wireless tech, battery-free devices, WiFi sensing and imaging, medical diagnostics via smartphones, and more. Malek Itani, a research assistant and PhD student at the UW's computer science school, is a co-founder of Hearvana. Itani was an intern at Meta, where he worked on smart glasses. Gollakota and Itani published research last year on a headphone prototype that uses AI to create a 'sound bubble' and can learn the distance for each sound source in a room.
