Has anyone tried AirPods Pro as hearing aides? I remember Apple talking big game about getting them certified or something
Ask HN: Hearing aid wearers, what's hot?
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Re: Ask HN: Hearing aid wearers, what's hot?
#72Has anyone tried AirPods Pro as hearing aides? I remember Apple talking big game about getting them certified or something
Someone I know does in fact use the m for that. I am not sure how serious they are about to though, it's their first hearing aid.
Re: Ask HN: Hearing aid wearers, what's hot?
#73I’ll chime in with a sidebar: Anyone got any experience using hearing aids for the "hearing in noise" issue (aka. King-Kopetzky syndrome or lack of cocktail party effect [0], part of a whole bunch of things also called adhd for ears). Essentially I have filtering issues, as soon as multiple people talk, I can’t really understand anyone anymore, unless they very directly speak into my ears so they are significantly lo…
Hearing in noise is both what most people want from hearing aids and what they are least equipped to provide. The traditional solution is an FM system where you give the person speaking a microphone linked to your hearing aids. There are dedicated ones like Phonak Roger. You could probably also use your phone as a microphone if it's bluetooth connected to your headphones or hearing aids.
That’s more a solution for far more extreme cases, including actual hearing loss. This would be far more involved than me lining up my ears with their mouth ;)
Re: Ask HN: Hearing aid wearers, what's hot?
#74I’ll chime in with a sidebar: Anyone got any experience using hearing aids for the "hearing in noise" issue (aka. King-Kopetzky syndrome or lack of cocktail party effect [0], part of a whole bunch of things also called adhd for ears). Essentially I have filtering issues, as soon as multiple people talk, I can’t really understand anyone anymore, unless they very directly speak into my ears so they are significantly lo…
Have a look at librepods [1], which was lately on HN. ___ 1. https://github.com/kavishdevar/librepods
That seems to enable airpods, but I have no idea if airpods are in any way applicable to the issue.
Re: Ask HN: Hearing aid wearers, what's hot?
#75I’ll chime in with a sidebar: Anyone got any experience using hearing aids for the "hearing in noise" issue (aka. King-Kopetzky syndrome or lack of cocktail party effect [0], part of a whole bunch of things also called adhd for ears). Essentially I have filtering issues, as soon as multiple people talk, I can’t really understand anyone anymore, unless they very directly speak into my ears so they are significantly lo…
I'm completely lost in noise. The benefits for this kind of thing is part of why my audiologist pushed for hearing aids with directional microphones. And they do help. But it's not a fix. I'm still mostly lost in noise. People rely on the (usually very large) dynamic range of hearing to be able to understand in those situations. In people with typical hearing the brain filters out the sounds too loud or too quiet to…
The second part is why I wonder if there’s anything targeted at the problem instead of badly solving it as a side effect.
Re: Ask HN: Hearing aid wearers, what's hot?
#76I’ve worn hearing aids since I was a few years old, and I’m currently trialling the Oticon Zeal ones.
I tried the Starkey ITC ones a couple of weeks ago, but found the performance in noisy environments to be sub-par.
The Oticon Zeals seem good so far, but it has only been a few days. One thing they seem very strong at is the Bluetooth connectivity.
Thanks to recent iOS changes, I can use the mic in the Oticons or the iPhone for calls - and I’m tempted to try a DJI mic on my lapel as the mic. Although, so far during testing it seems that the Oticon mic might actually be good for phone calls.
Re: Ask HN: Hearing aid wearers, what's hot?
#77I'll tell you what is NOT hot! I have Phonak Audeos paired over bluetooth with my iPhone. A few years prior, I used to have Oticon, also paired with my iPhone. With the Oticon, if I made a cellphone call, the iPhone would use the default iPhone microphone while the audio would stream to my hearing aids. It was good that way because in a noisy environment I could hold the iphone right up to my mouth and the other part…
You can change the mic during calls now on iOS.
During a call, swipe down for the control centre. You’ll see an option at the very top to adjust the audio options. Mic input is just there.
Re: Ask HN: Hearing aid wearers, what's hot?
#78Weird - in an incredibly similar situation and my RICs are overdue an upgrade (Oticon Opn 3).
I've been keeping an eye on developments for some time, and I've been looking for something ideally CIC, though I do like the RIC Opns.
However, nothing has had the feature set I wanted - bluetooth, auracast, Apple MFI and being CIC.
Oticon just announced/released their 'Zeal' product - a non-custom CIC, with seemingly all the bells and whistles, including bluetooth. Planning to try them soon.
I have tried a few aids before (Starkey and some older Phonak) and I do really like the Oticon 'sound'. They work for me, but of course YMMV. I think many aid manufacturers (many of them the same company - WDH!) do 60 day trials. Worth a shot.
My only dislike is the new fad, particularly of Oticon, of stopping disposable batteries and only going rechargeable. Disposable zinc-air cells have great life (I'd get a week on the Opns at least, with a few hours streaming per day). I travel for work a lot, so carrying a couple of tiny 312's in my wallet or keychain was perfect. The Zeal look to have what Oticon think is a 'compact' charger - but it ain't small. My kingdom for a charger the size of the AirPods Pro case...
Re: Ask HN: Hearing aid wearers, what's hot?
#79I have moderate-to-profound hearing loss and have worn hearing aids since I was 4. I currently have Oticon Opn1’s and have had Oticons since 2017 (and got new ones in 2022) and they are fabulous. I find the sound quality in noisy environments much better than any other aid I’ve had - much better perception of voices in restaurants, for example. I rarely have to fiddle with the volume control and in fact do not even u…
This matches my experience, too. Although I’ve opted for ITC or ITE as much as possible in recent years.
Re: Ask HN: Hearing aid wearers, what's hot?
#80I'll tell you what's not hot: cochlear implants. I wore hearing aids since the late '80s. I wear CIs as of about 5 years ago, and while my hearing is much better and stable than it used to be, I've found that UX for CIs is pretty bad. For one, unless you use Med-El's Rondo processeor, you're going to have a thin cable connecting your processor to the coil. Taking off your CIs and putting them back on (as one does eve…
Have you tried the non-over-the-ear cochlear devices? The kind that have everything built into the part that sticks magnetically to your implant — I don’t know what the term is; I don’t use them myself.
I know somebody who really dislikes the over-the-ear type devices and swears by the all-in-one kind.
She seems to get a full day of battery out of hers, but I don’t know what kind they are and I imagine usage patterns make a big difference.