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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

#91

Post by ampdepolymerase »

chrisweekly wrote: post #57
ampdepolymerase wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For a few dollars more it is possible to put a FPGA with perhaps a neural accelerator on it. It may tremendously simplify some of the DSP stack. More importantly, there should be a full-proof app or UI to allow the user to tune the hearing aid appropriately (or coupled with a training course for audiologists in the targeted regions to do so).

full-proof -> fool-proof NOT being pedantic, just trying to be helpful / educational (esp given the large % of non-native English speakers on HN)

Sorry the auto correct changed the spelling. I meant fool-proof. I am a native speaker.

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

#92

Post by boogies »

etskinner wrote: post #77
boogies wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Does that charging circuit need to be inside the hearing aid, and not in the charging cradle/case/dock thing?

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

#93

Post by bagacrap »

sputr wrote: post #78
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…

quality? doesn't this question apply to every cheap Chinese product? My mom has had poor hearing for decades and always spent thousands on her hearing aids for marginal improvements in quality (e.g. noise cancelling, size, noticeability). The only thing that really made a big improvement was when she finally got a cochlear implant.

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

#95

Post by libraryofbabel »

mdw wrote: post #67
DanBC wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Plenty of people prefer behind the ear devices because they are either rechargable, or brightly coloured. Young people in particular benefit from being able to chose an aid that's brightly coloured, and you see some YP modify their aids with skins or stickers. Here's the colour range for one modern aid: https://www.fmhearingsystems.co.uk/PDF/FocusColours.jpg Rechargable: https://www.phonak.com/uk/en/about-us/rec…

Having a brightly coloured hearing aid as an adult doesn’t look professional. Are these marketed towards younger people?

Why not? People wear brightly colored jewelry or “statement” eyewear in a professional context all the time.

Are you saying that it’s “professional” to hide your disability if you have hearing loss? If so, then I strongly disagree. It’s a personal choice.

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

#96

Post by pontus »

skybrian wrote: post #89
pontus wrote: post #84

With all the advances in tech, why does it seem that hearing aids are still from the 80s? I guess ultimately you're limited by your interface to the brain (something maybe neuralink could address?), but even still shouldn't there be some "magic" machine learning stuff going on in this space? Not at all an expert in audio processing, but I would imagine that we could do a decent job distinguishing voices from backgrou…

These days they are fairly sophisticated; my hearing aids will automatically switch between several different programs depending on the environment. (It doesn't work how I'd like it to, though, so I have a program that I manually set for music.) There is also a phone app for adjusting settings, though it's limited and buggy. It's difficult to evaluate hearing aids because they are proprietary. Reading about the featu…

Would be cool to create an open standard and perhaps even open source the development. If nothing else, I would imagine that there are quite a few hearing impaired engineers and scientists out there that would gladly work on something like this if it meant that they themselves could benefit from the improvements.

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

#98

Post by mgh2 »

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…

I work on ecommerce, so I often see trendy products being marketed: usually sourced from China and hyped to sell at 20-50x its price.

I am trying to see how different this device is compared to sound amplifiers marketed as 'miracle hearing aids' found in any ecommerce site. The last thing HN wants is to fall victim to an advertorial disguised as a scientific discovery.

Note: I worked for a company that wrote 'scientific' articles like this as landing pages.

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

#99

Post by jki275 »

mgerdts wrote: post #34
brento wrote: post #18

I was told I could benefit from hearing aids, but was told they would cost $5K to $8K depending on which ones I wanted. I've decided for now that I'll put up with the issues associated with not having them for now. I was also told they blue tooth doesn't work very well if you have an android phone, so I'm hoping that there can be some real innovation and competition in this space to drive the prices down and also imp…

If you can find your way to Costco, make an appointment with their audiologist. The test is free and hearing aids are less than $900 each. Follow-up visits are free. You do not need a Costco membership unless you decide to make a purchase. If you are unhappy with your purchase you can get a refund on the hearing aids and the membership. I believe that most of their hearing aids support bluetooth, but only when you ge…

This is so true! We were told 8k, Costco got us a top of the line set with all of the features the other set had for less than 2k for the set. Costco made a customer for life out of that deal. They do glasses as well, though I haven't used them for that and don't know if the discounts are as good or not.
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