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Ok I will bit, I want to build this and redistribute in Africa, I lack technical knowledge to do this, what is best approach?
Talk to a Chinese factory on what’s the lowest price they’ll sell you the hearing aids for that they already make at near-cost prices. The article is literally a “my first soldering project” combining an OTS microphone amp module with an R-C high pass filter. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rechargeable-Digital-Hearing-Aid-...
Hearing aids (nor cochlear implants, for that matter) do not "restore hearing", except for light hearing loss. They are only like crutches (not even wheelchair). For example, to follow conversations or phone/skype with multiple people is very exhausting even with fancy device, because in most cases the "bandwidth" to the brain just isn't available. That said, the hearing aids vendor lock-in is really atrocious and ca…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Talk to a Chinese factory on what’s the lowest price they’ll sell you the hearing aids for that they already make at near-cost prices. The article is literally a “my first soldering project” combining an OTS microphone amp module with an R-C high pass filter. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rechargeable-Digital-Hearing-Aid-...
The $1 figure in the headline is clickbait as it’s only the cost of components for the PCB. Add the PCB + mechanical components + battery + plastic enclosure + assembly + testing + factory margin + overhead and it would be a miracle to come under the cost of existing low-cost hearing aids.
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal...
So I found the pdf in the zip file where you can see what it is. It's a MAX 98306 amp. The only peripherals are the typical filter capacitors, resistors, volume pot, microphone, etc. So, it's basically this: https://www.adafruit.com/product/987
The blueprints are hosted on github: https://github.com/bhamla-lab/LoCHAid-2020-PLOS-ONE Edit: there is also a video showing the building process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0gnbOJ3nDo
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal...
Would love to see a low-cost open/hackable hearingaid/hearable though. For example BOM of 5-10 USD. But then it should use a reprogrammable chip for the signal processing, so that one can make improvements in software. Even the cheapest and simplest hardware is harder / more expensive to improve than software.
Based on the MAX9814 chip, which costs 0.75 USD in 2.5K volume, leaving 0.25 USD for everything else. The design is not integrated much (many connectors), so assembly costs will be high. It also requires 2xAA batteries as a consumable, which consumer has to pay as well. So this is not a 1 USD hearing aid in any way. And if current units are 500 USD, then going down to 50 or 10 USD would already be a huge improvement.
Hearing aids (nor cochlear implants, for that matter) do not "restore hearing", except for light hearing loss. They are only like crutches (not even wheelchair). For example, to follow conversations or phone/skype with multiple people is very exhausting even with fancy device, because in most cases the "bandwidth" to the brain just isn't available. That said, the hearing aids vendor lock-in is really atrocious and ca…
Why would that be, I wonder. Anyone know?