Technology manufacturing titan Foxconn Group invested $5.5 million in Soundhawk Corp., a company making a high-tech “smart listening” system that helps people hear what they are listening for in a noisy environment.

The company’s flagship product is based on intellectual property and research by Rodney Perkins, M.D., a founder of Stanford University’s California Ear Institute. But don’t call Dr. Perkins’ invention a “hearing aid,” said the startup’s president and chief executive, Mike Kisch.

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