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Why don't more people use throat mics?

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Re: Why don't more people use throat mics?

#152

One of the most Hacker News articles ever written. A bad solution (wearing a choker) to a self-generated problem (using Arch) that costs a lot of money. In summary: this generates more problems than it solves (unless you're a navy seal).

Fair comment, but

>a self-generated problem (using Arch)

I would argue this is a good solution to the problem of using Windows or Mac. ;)

Re: Why don't more people use throat mics?

#153

I should write up my solution using a parabolic dish that focuses sound from a relatively small zone where my head (usually) is, into a good cheap mic. You get good isolation (even from keyboard sounds) requires nothing on your head or throat, and ... physics! (You just need to accept a big dish in your field of view, and you also can't pace, walk around, as with bluetooth solutions.)

How does this compare against the more mainstream shotgun mic?

Even mics with passive rejection (basically an omnidirectional mic facing outwards that passively cancels the input from the cardioid mic facing your mouth) do pretty well at these tasks.

Antlion and Sennheiser make good passive rejection mics.

Re: Why don't more people use throat mics?

#154

I should write up my solution using a parabolic dish that focuses sound from a relatively small zone where my head (usually) is, into a good cheap mic. You get good isolation (even from keyboard sounds) requires nothing on your head or throat, and ... physics! (You just need to accept a big dish in your field of view, and you also can't pace, walk around, as with bluetooth solutions.)

So, to go even more nerdy on this idea, create a microphone array and steer the input precisely at your mouth. Bonus, you can program the FPGAs to do this yourself!

Re: Why don't more people use throat mics?

#155
Peak HN submission here. Fails to realize people are not like the author and have an issue with wearing a collar that applies not so subtle pressure on the throat to optimize for a problem that really isn't a problem that needs to be solved. Oh wait I'm also suscepti-

Re: Why don't more people use throat mics?

#156
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the most Hacker News comments every written. A dismissive comment about a diy home project because you'd rather be critical of someone else than build something yourself.

I think this is a reaction to the tone set by the headline, which seems to ask "why don't people use this far more cumbersome alternative?" That said, the assessment of pros and cons in the article is less stereotypically oblivious and more nuanced than the above would suggest.

Hacker News is not a place for "reactions" - it's a place to have thoughtful discussions about interesting and weird things (and startups). Toplevel comment added negative value to Hacker News (as I now have to put up with it being the top comment thread in what was otherwise a mildly interesting comment section) and was an emotional knee-jerk reaction that broke this section of the guidelines:

> Be kind. Don't be snarky. Have curious conversation; don't cross-examine. Please don't fulminate. Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community.

It would be nice if we could keep this kind of low-effort, Facebook-esque fluff out of Hacker News.

Re: Why don't more people use throat mics?

#158
> “ Throat mics are an improvement over a standalone wired microphone (if that’s what you are using), and have better background noise reduction”

Do they? The audio sample sounds a lot worse than the high quality standalone mics. Does he mean something else?

Re: Why don't more people use throat mics?

#160
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the most Hacker News comments every written. A dismissive comment about a diy home project because you'd rather be critical of someone else than build something yourself.

I think this is a reaction to the tone set by the headline, which seems to ask "why don't people use this far more cumbersome alternative?" That said, the assessment of pros and cons in the article is less stereotypically oblivious and more nuanced than the above would suggest.

It seems that just having a headline that asks a question is not good enough any more, at least on HN, as most "readers" appear to assume the headline is a tacit endorsement of the subject of the question.
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