ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the growing intersection between medical hearing devices and consumer electronics to create both a new generation of hearing aids and new norms of self-controlled hearing. Questions arising from this convergence include: In what way the promised smart hearing is not only determined by technological and industrial standards, but they also respond to neoliberal circuits of consumerism and techno-capitalism? What are the effects and implications of ‘smart’ hearing technologies offering new functionalities that promise ever better hearing, fitness and well-being while, at the same time, shifting the responsibilities to the hearing subjects? What happens with the collected behavioral data such as biometrical information or activity protocols? And, referring back to (self-)control: Are there alternative possibilities beyond industry-led infrastructures, standardisation and protocols? In conclusion, we try to present possibilities to address these issues and reveal some of the contradictions coming along > that come along with ‘smart hearing’.
