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$1 hearing aid could treat millions with hearing loss

sciencemag.org

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Re: $1 hearing aid could treat millions with hearing loss

#71

Post by WrtCdEvrydy »

inetsee wrote: post #49
madspindel wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's because it's a medical device. The OTC Hearing Aid Act will change that so Bose (and I would guess Samsung and Apple in the future) can sell hearing aids directly to consumers. Bluetooth 5.2 LE Audio will solve the vendor lock-in. So the future looks bright for us with hearing loss. Edit: And with iOS 14 you can use AirPods Pro as hearings aids by adding an audiogram to the Apple Health app. Works really well.

There is a hearing aid app called Fennex that seems to be very highly rated. It works with any IPhone running iOS 11 or later (thus less expensive IPhones) and works with any Bluetooth earbuds, not necessarily the AirPods Pro (thus less expensive earbuds). I have never owned an IPhone, but this app seriously tempts me to buy one.

iPhone SE locked down to a specific carrier used in A-rate (best quality) goes for $50 on ebay. iOS14 is guaranteed to work on it for at least one year.

Edit: I am not an Apple guy but needed some cheap AF development hardware.

Re: $1 hearing aid could treat millions with hearing loss

#72

Post by wefarrell »

rini17 wrote: post #7

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…

Cochlear implants do not "restore hearing" but they do allow people who are completely deaf to sense sound well enough to understand speech.

That's a huge change in a deaf person's life.

Re: $1 hearing aid could treat millions with hearing loss

#73

Post by caymanjim »

This is not a $1 hearing aid and never will be. The material cost of almost any device is insignificant compared to the overall cost of manufacturing, testing, and distributing it. The barrier to low-cost hearing aids in most countries is medical regulation and liability coverage, not expensive parts. Maybe India's regulations are lax enough that someone could bulk-manufacture cheap, poorly-tested medical devices to get the price down to a few dollars, but there's no technological breakthrough in this "new device" that would enable that; if there were a viable market, it would already be manufactured. There's no profit to be made, so why would anyone bother?

Re: $1 hearing aid could treat millions with hearing loss

#74

Post by markc »

caymanjim wrote: post #73

This is not a $1 hearing aid and never will be. The material cost of almost any device is insignificant compared to the overall cost of manufacturing, testing, and distributing it. The barrier to low-cost hearing aids in most countries is medical regulation and liability coverage, not expensive parts. Maybe India's regulations are lax enough that someone could bulk-manufacture cheap, poorly-tested medical devices to…

>There's no profit to be made, so why would anyone bother?

Really dude?

Re: $1 hearing aid could treat millions with hearing loss

#75

Post by Someone »

madspindel wrote: post #36
rini17 wrote: post #7

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…

It's because it's a medical device. The OTC Hearing Aid Act will change that so Bose (and I would guess Samsung and Apple in the future) can sell hearing aids directly to consumers. Bluetooth 5.2 LE Audio will solve the vendor lock-in. So the future looks bright for us with hearing loss. Edit: And with iOS 14 you can use AirPods Pro as hearings aids by adding an audiogram to the Apple Health app. Works really well.

Apple already sells a hearing aid that they can’t legally call ‘hearing aid’. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT209082:

“With Live Listen, your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch can act like a microphone that sends sound to your AirPods or Powerbeats Pro. Live Listen can help you hear a conversation in a noisy area or even hear someone speaking across the room.”

It even supports hearing aids (a few? Some? Many? The most popular? I wouldn’t know). See https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210386

Re: $1 hearing aid could treat millions with hearing loss

#76

Post by Accujack »

jononor wrote: post #9

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.

>assembly costs will be high

You read the article and know this is intended for DIY assembly, correct? That it's not a commercial product?

Re: $1 hearing aid could treat millions with hearing loss

#77

Post by etskinner »

boogies wrote: post #35
KSteffensen wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hearing aids are tremendously constrained with regards to power and mechanics. There is no way you will be able to get an FPGA in a hearing aid. An FPGA runnning complex DSP algorithms will: 1. Get hot. I don't want a +60C FPGA in my ear. 2. Eat up the battery. The batteries are small and fiddly to replace for an 85 year old with bad eyes and arthritis in the fingers. They should last for at least a week before needi…

> a connector, which take up precious volume. Wireless recharging requires a coil with the same problem. Couldn’t a “connector” just be a tiny gold contact to meet another in a charging cradle/case like a smart watch or wireless earbuds? Would that be too big?

More than just a connector, it also needs a charging circuit, which would also take up space.

Re: $1 hearing aid could treat millions with hearing loss

#78

Post by sputr »

jononor wrote: post #16

Looks like Chinese manufactures already sell hearing aid devices in the 25-50 USD price range. https://www.banggood.com/search/hearing-aid.html Unlike the device from the article (which would cost more like 10 USD than 1), these are rechargeable and fully integrated over-the-ear units. 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 reprogra…

Damn that link made me happy. Was wondering if anyone has done to hearing aids what they did for glasses.

We just brought my father progressive glasses for 100usd (would be 400+usd here at a 'normal' store). Now he needs a hearing aid and we're dreading the multi-hundred payment on top of what is covered with insurance for a basic device.

So.. What's the catch with these cheap hearing aids? Why would we not buy these?

Re: $1 hearing aid could treat millions with hearing loss

#79

Post by snegu »

otoburb wrote: post #69
SeasonalEnnui wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Multiple-decades of hearing aid wearing here. I agree with most of that. I ended up buying the programmer for my aids to do small tweaks (not the prescription/audiogram, just the program configuration where you can edit the level of DSP in various situations). I would say that this latest generation of hearing aids (Phonak Marvel) is the first generation where I've felt like they've got it right. Direct bluetooth con…

And the Phonak Marvel's retail price is north of $1,000 USD. Can some of the cost to the individual be defrayed through medical insurance in the US?

My insurance covers hearing aids, but it definitely varies.

Re: $1 hearing aid could treat millions with hearing loss

#80

Post by dhosek »

snegu wrote: post #79
otoburb wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the Phonak Marvel's retail price is north of $1,000 USD. Can some of the cost to the individual be defrayed through medical insurance in the US?

My insurance covers hearing aids, but it definitely varies.

I've never had insurance cover hearing aids. It's criminal that something so essential isn't covered.
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