Imagine walking into a noisy bar and your earbuds instantly mute everyone except the one person you’re talking to—like having a bouncer for your eardrums. University of Washington just built an AI hearing aid that listens for polite turn-taking and yeets the rest of the chatter into the void. Finally, technology that understands “not now, Chad, I’m talking to Brittany” better than Chad ever will.

Proactive Hearing Assistant Filters Through Voices in a Crowd