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After more than two decades in the hearing industry, Brian Taylor, AuD, has made a move that reflects a broader question facing hearing care: once a patient is fit with hearing aids, what happens next? I've worked with Dr. Taylor on publications, presentations, and projects for at least 20 years, as he held leadership positions at Amplifon, Unitron, and Signia/WS Audiology, and he has recently joined Neurotone AI, a company focused on auditory training and aural rehabilitation.
For Taylor, the move was driven by a desire to address what he sees as a longstanding gap in care. Hearing technology has advanced rapidly, he says, but better audibility on the day of fitting does not automatically translate into better communication, less listening fatigue, or greater confidence in daily life. In this Q&A with HearingTracker, Taylor discusses why he made the change, why he thinks aural rehabilitation has remained underused for so long, and how AI and smartphone-based tools may help bring rehabilitation more fully into routine hearing care.
HearingTracker: Although I know you've also worked in and managed hearing care clinics, much of your career has been in the hearing aid world. Why was this the right time to make a change?
Brian Taylor, AuD: At this stage of my career, I felt like this was a chance I wanted to take. I'm almost 60, and opportunities to do something genuinely new and meaningful don't come around that often. I told people when I resigned that I probably won't have many more chances like this, so I wanted to take advantage of it.
What made the timing right is that I've spent many years in the hearing aid side of the business, and I've seen just how much progress the industry has made. The technology is very good, and it will keep getting better. But I also felt there was another part of hearing care that still needed more attention. I wanted to be involved in that missing piece.
HearingTracker: What was it about Neurotone AI that convinced you to join?
Taylor: I had followed the LACE, clEAR, and other aural rehab systems since their earliest days when people like Drs. Robert Sweetow, Jennifer Henderson Sabes, and Nancy Tye-Murray were developing them. To me, these seemed like a logical "next step" in hearing healthcare.
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What also excited me was that Neurotone seems to have the business model right. Historically, one of the big challenges with auditory training tools like LACE was compliance. They were cumbersome. Years ago, people were using DVDs and DVD players. That created many challenges for actual use by both patients and providers.
Now, because everything can be delivered through a smartphone app, the experience is much more streamlined and easier. On top of that, AI makes the platform more customizable. Patients can work at their own pace, focus on the areas that matter most to them, and have a more individualized experience.
The other thing that appealed to me is that Neurotone is not trying to replace the clinician. Their strategy is to keep the hearing care provider at the center of the patient journey. That was important to me. The best version of this is not consumer only; it works best when it's introduced, explained, and supported by the hearing care professional.
HearingTracker: For readers who may not know much about Neurotone AI, how do you describe its mission and how it works in simple terms?
Taylor: I'd describe it as helping fill the gap between hearing aid fitting and meaningful outcomes. On the day of the fitting, the goal is to restore audibility. That's the starting point.
But then there's the crucial 1 to 6-month journey after that, where you're helping the person achieve better speech understanding in noise, reduced listening fatigue, improved communication and greater social engagement, and the other outcomes that matter in everyday life.
Hearing aids are the beginning of that process, not the end of it. The Neurotone AI app is really about supporting what happens after audibility has been restored. It's about rehabilitation, practice, engagement, and helping people adapt more successfully.
HearingTracker: So, you might say that Neurotone's mission is to help solve some of the important counseling and auditory training that isn't always adequately addressed in hearing care?
Taylor: I think that's fair. The problem is that we, as an industry and as clinicians, have historically done a good job talking about devices, but not always as good a job addressing what happens post-fitting. There's often a gap between a technically successful fitting and the real-world benefits patients want.
A person may leave the office hearing more sounds, but that doesn't mean they immediately communicate better in difficult environments or feel less effort at the end of the day. It doesn't mean they've changed the habits and coping behaviors they developed during years of untreated hearing loss. That's where aural rehab comes in.
To me, that's the biggest reason I made the jump. I felt like I had done what I could in the device world. This role is about reframing treatment and intervention around outcomes, not just hardware.
HearingTracker: Why has aural rehabilitation remained underutilized for so long?
Taylor: Along with the reimbursement issue, it is mostly because it has been too cumbersome to implement. Thirty years ago, many of us tried to do aural rehab or auditory training in more traditional ways. For example, you might host an evening group in the office or invite patients to a group event. A few would participate, but most wouldn't. Patients are busy, and providers are too. These types of services are hard to fit into everyone's schedules.
Even when LACE came along, the concept was strong, but the delivery model was still awkward or inconvenient for a lot of people. You had to set up patients with DVDs or special equipment. The logistics alone got in the way. Plus, some people face unique challenges that others may not.
With app-based systems and AI, these types of obstacles have been dramatically reduced. If someone knows how to use a smartphone and an app, it becomes much easier to participate—and today that includes a lot of older adults who are far more comfortable with mobile technology than they were even a few years ago. So, I think the environment is finally right for a real revival of auditory rehabilitation and personalized hearing care.
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HearingTracker: Where do you see a tool like this fitting into the patient journey?
Taylor: Ideally, it gets introduced very early—either on the day of the fitting or at the one- or two-week follow-up. I think that's when it makes the most sense, because it can be positioned as part of the treatment plan rather than as an optional add-on.
It's a bit analogous to physical therapy after knee replacement. The surgery may be successful, but outcomes improve substantially if and when the patient does the work that follows. In hearing care, hearing aids restore access to sound, but rehab can help people get a lot more benefit from that access.
Of course, you don't want to overwhelm someone at the start. You have to judge how much information they can absorb. But I do think it should be introduced early and framed as a normal and integral part of care.
HearingTracker: What does the platform actually offer?
Taylor: On the auditory training side, there are several modules, including things like speech in noise, rapid speech, working memory, and missing word exercises. The program is designed to be self-guided, but it can also be customized. There are ways to tailor the experience using AI, including features like familiar voices and more individualized content.
That flexibility is important because not every patient wants the same thing. Some people may want to go all in and complete the full training experience. Others may only want to use one module or do a few exercises here and there. That's fine too. It doesn't have to be all or nothing.
In my view, the value is not just the exercises themselves; it's also the sense of empowerment. The patient is taking some ownership of the condition and participating in the process of improvement.
HearingTracker: How important is the involvement of the hearing care professional in an AI-driven rehab model like this?
Taylor: It's essential. I see AI as a support tool, not a replacement for the provider. The platform works best in the hands of a clinician who knows how to introduce it, motivate the patient, and connect it to the person's goals.
One of the things that makes today's tools different is that they can fit more naturally into the clinical workflow. Through apps and messaging, you can remind patients to do exercises, track their progress, and in some cases, review outcomes if the patient chooses to share that information. That creates more continuity between office visits and keeps the professional up to date on how their clients are doing.
In the end, the clinician still must be the hub. The human piece—counseling, motivation, expectation-setting, and interpretation—doesn't go away.
HearingTracker: You've been around the industry long enough to watch multiple waves of innovation. How do you see AI changing hearing care over the next five years?
Taylor: I think AI will increasingly handle a lot of the technical tasks that have traditionally required deep programming knowledge. From a hearing aid perspective, some of the thinking around compression, kneepoints, maximum power output, and even matching targets will become more seamless. In some ways, that may turn some of the technical fine-tuning work into a lost art.
But that doesn't mean clinicians become less important. In fact, I think it puts even more emphasis on the parts of care that AI can't fully replace. People often wait a long time before getting help. They develop maladaptive habits and behaviors around their hearing loss. Helping them move through that process still requires expertise, empathy, and practical counseling.
So, if you ask me, I think AI will take over more of the technical heavy lifting in hearing aid programming, while making the provider's human role even more valuable.
HearingTracker: Do you think the hearing industry has focused too heavily on aids and not on the more human factors surrounding hearing loss?
Taylor: Yes, and that's been one of the big themes of my own thinking as I've made the shift to this new area. The industry tends to focus on the product launch cycle—what's new in the chip, what's new in noise reduction, what's new in connectivity. Don't get me wrong: these are very important, of course. But the fact is that most of the major players have very good technology.
The bigger opportunity may be in what happens between the initial fitting day and the point where the patient is truly functioning better in daily life. If we want to talk seriously about outcomes, then we have to talk about aural rehabilitation, too.
That's a big part of what makes this next chapter interesting to me. It's a chance to help shift the conversation away from devices alone and toward treatment more broadly—which in a lot of ways really lies at the heart of audiology and the history of our profession.
HearingTracker: Do you think tools like Neurotone AI might help push hearing healthcare toward a more outcomes-based model?
Taylor: I think it's possible. At the very least, these tools can help providers reframe the value of what they do. Instead of focusing only on the product, you can focus on the process and on the patient's progress over time.
I also think it opens up new opportunities for practices to differentiate themselves. If you're using auditory training thoughtfully and integrating it into care, that becomes part of your value proposition. It tells patients that you're not just selling a device—you're supporting adaptation and communication success.
Brian Taylor, AuDI also think it opens up new opportunities for practices to differentiate themselves. If you're using auditory training thoughtfully and integrating it into care, that becomes part of your value proposition. It tells patients that you're not just selling a device—you're supporting adaptation and communication success.
And from a research standpoint, I think that's exciting too. There was a period—maybe 15 or 20 years ago—when a lot of studies were published around LACE and related work. Then that momentum seemed to fade. Now I think we're in a position to see a real rebirth, with new studies, better study designs, and a broader look at outcomes beyond speech understanding in noise.
HearingTracker: What excites you most personally about this next chapter?
Taylor: For me, it's the chance to make a difference in people's lives in a new way. This is something truly different, and I'm excited about helping bridge the gap between the hearing aid and meaningful outcomes. I'm also excited about working with hearing care providers and helping them think differently about auditory training and aural rehab.
There's an opportunity for a rebirth in this important area of hearing care and for making it more central to our mission. And with all the uncertainties that AI brings, I think this will be extremely helpful for both patients and the profession.
On a personal level, I've always enjoyed making my presentations and writing practical and useful. So, that part of the role appeals to me—getting in front of groups, explaining what this can do, why it's important, and showing clinicians how it fits into real-world care.
And I'm very excited about the research side. There's already evidence that these kinds of tools can be effective, but we need more studies and better studies. We've spent a lot of time focusing on speech in noise—and I've spent a lot of my career talking about it! Although this aspect is really important, there are other dimensions of outcomes that deserve attention, too.
So for me, this is a chance to combine several things I care about: helping patients, supporting clinicians, communicating practical ideas, and being part of a profession that still has a lot of room to grow and evolve. We need to continue to demonstrate that hearing health is a vital part of general health and quality of life.
Karl Strom ist der Chefredakteur von HearingTracker. Er war Gründungsredakteur des The Hearing Review und berichtet seit über 30 Jahren über die Hörhilfeindustrie.
