Disclosed is a neuromorphic-processing systems including, in some embodiments, a special-purpose host processor operable as a stand-alone host processor; a neuromorphic co-processor including an artificial neural network; and a communications interface between the host processor and the co-processor configured to transmit information therebetween. The co-processor is configured to enhance special-purpose processing of the host processor with the artificial neural network. Also disclosed is a method of a neuromorphic-processing system having the special-purpose host processor and the neuromorphic co-processor including, in some embodiments, enhancing the special-purpose processing of the host processor with the artificial neural network of the co-processor. In some embodiments, the host processor is a hearing-aid processor.