The behind the ear device can be customized by the user on a standard PC. It performs as well as top-end $3,000 devices that fit inside the ear canal and require insertion and tuning by an audiologist, the company claims.

About six million people now use hearing aids that cost about $350 or more and require customization by an audiologist. As many as 300 million people have hearing loss but can't afford today's products or don't have access an audiologist, opening up a kind of retail market TPL hopes to address.

"For example, Pakistan has 190 million people and one audiologist," said Nicholas Antonopoulos, vice president of business development for TPL. "We believe we can give people the best hearing aid of all time at a lower price point," he added.

TPL, a 125-person company which makes 90 percent of its revenues licensing its technology and patents, is seeking a partner to take the device to market. It believes the technology could also be used to create a line of headsets for cellphones and MP3 players.

The device is based on the company's Seaforth, a 24-core asynchronous processor running at 700 MHz designed by TPL's Intellasys unit. The company claims the 3x3mm chip delivers up to 20,000 MIPS, and it has a 40-core version now in production.

"In the last few years, hearing aid developers have lived in world of devices with 8-10 MIPs," said Daniel Leckrone, chief executive of TPL.

The company has a team of engineers in Vienna that have developed the audio algorithms run on the chip. A separate group in Cincinnati has created a 6x4mm transducer which could become its speaker unit.

"We are excited about the convergence of these three technologies that could outperform state-of-art $3,000 devices that you can customize yourself," said Leckrone.

The company does not plan to seek approval from the FDA or other regulatory agencies for the device.