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AI headphones let wearer listen to a single person in a crowd by looking at them

washington.edu

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Re: AI headphones let wearer listen to a single person in a crowd by looking at them

#121

Post by theshackleford »

mschuster91 wrote: post #69
vsnf wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YouTube's automatic captions do this for any word on an ambiguous blacklist. Not only is this annoying when reading the captions, but I imagine that for the hearing impaired, it would also be condescending to have Google tell you what you can and cannot read, especially since the hearing un-impaired experienced it just fine.

And then there's TikTok who will downrank your content if its AI catches you using words like "kill" or "suicide" [1]... and so, as many creators cross-publish on YouTube Shorts as well, it also automatically degrades the content there as the creators use "euphemisms" instead. And then young people snag that up and literally write that way on Reddit. No thanks, I don't want to hear or read "unalived" again. And for f…

Most of this modern day nonsense comes from the US so maybe look inward first?

Re: AI headphones let wearer listen to a single person in a crowd by looking at them

#122

Post by abdullahkhalids »

wazoox wrote: post #93
KaiserPro wrote: post #92

One thing that the HN crowd should appreciate is just how expensive and shit hearing aids are. go and look the up the price, they are deeply expensive, even for basic "make it louder" type aids. Worse still, because they interfere with your ear, you tend to loose the ability to "steer" your hearing. This means that you can't tune out other conversations/noises or stuff. The one good side effect of facebook spending b…

The French youtuber Deus Ex silicium made a through analysis. Basically, hearing aids are slightly worse than ordinary wireless headphones, but 10 times more expensive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPmwfbLPHG8

I doubt that is true. The hearing aids sold as medical devices, have to satisfy regulatory standards. So a lot of incentive to use older reliable tech.

Not to mention, it probably takes a couple of years to get the certification for a device. So, any device to market is easily 2-3 years old tech by definition.

Re: AI headphones let wearer listen to a single person in a crowd by looking at them

#124

Post by funki »

devjab wrote: post #78
foreigner wrote: post #77

I'll bet they achieve commercial success with the reverse application. Imagine being able to mute that one obnoxiously loud person with an annoying voice at a party!

I think this is the wildest “I guess I’m” old moment I’ve experienced… Do people wear headphones at parties?

I know a few people on the spectrum using ANR headphones or earbuds in social or loud settings (party/bar/restaurant/subway) to lower the ambient noise, just as you would wear a pear of sunglasses in the sun or on a brightly-lit stage. To them, it is a welcome fix to the alternative they had before: be exhausted by the stimulation, or stay home. The tendency of "the young" to do it too is a bonus: now they don't stand out so much.

Re: AI headphones let wearer listen to a single person in a crowd by looking at them

#125

Post by cjrp »

consp wrote: post #118
andrelaszlo wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Modern hearing aids are pretty cool. They've crammed in an amazing amount of features in a super tiny form factor, with a battery that lasts for a week even when using bluetooth. My Phonaks have the ability to automatically switch programs to some extent, and to fine tune the program using a companion app. I can function and even have conversations to some extent in noisy environments, something that would have been…

> It's an accessibility nightmare, especially (but not only) for people with hearing loss. I can't make out any conversation in a noisy environment so usually switch to try-to-filter-noise-and-fail plus some amateur form of lip reading which works ok for a casual conversation but not for a more serious one. Hearing is "ok" enough though when testing, so no clue what it is. It helps a lot when the ambient noise level…

I'm exactly the same, end up doing a lot of nod-and-smile which isn't ideal! My hearing isn't great in the high frequencies, but nothing major.

Re: AI headphones let wearer listen to a single person in a crowd by looking at them

#126

Post by moffkalast »

KaiserPro wrote: post #92

One thing that the HN crowd should appreciate is just how expensive and shit hearing aids are. go and look the up the price, they are deeply expensive, even for basic "make it louder" type aids. Worse still, because they interfere with your ear, you tend to loose the ability to "steer" your hearing. This means that you can't tune out other conversations/noises or stuff. The one good side effect of facebook spending b…

> you tend to loose the ability to "steer" your hearing

Do people genuinely have that ability, to listen to a specific person and ignore the rest?

Asking because no matter how hard I try I can never understand a fucking thing if there's many people talking loudly in the background, it all mixes together into an incoherent whole.

Re: AI headphones let wearer listen to a single person in a crowd by looking at them

#127

Post by yard2010 »

andrelaszlo wrote: post #101
KaiserPro wrote: post #92

One thing that the HN crowd should appreciate is just how expensive and shit hearing aids are. go and look the up the price, they are deeply expensive, even for basic "make it louder" type aids. Worse still, because they interfere with your ear, you tend to loose the ability to "steer" your hearing. This means that you can't tune out other conversations/noises or stuff. The one good side effect of facebook spending b…

Modern hearing aids are pretty cool. They've crammed in an amazing amount of features in a super tiny form factor, with a battery that lasts for a week even when using bluetooth. My Phonaks have the ability to automatically switch programs to some extent, and to fine tune the program using a companion app. I can function and even have conversations to some extent in noisy environments, something that would have been…

> On the way out, I tried to mention the tough acoustics to someone at the restaurant’s front desk. I don’t think he heard me.

It's funny how for some problems the path to the solution is blocked by deadlock

Re: AI headphones let wearer listen to a single person in a crowd by looking at them

#128

Post by darkwater »

consp wrote: post #118
andrelaszlo wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Modern hearing aids are pretty cool. They've crammed in an amazing amount of features in a super tiny form factor, with a battery that lasts for a week even when using bluetooth. My Phonaks have the ability to automatically switch programs to some extent, and to fine tune the program using a companion app. I can function and even have conversations to some extent in noisy environments, something that would have been…

> It's an accessibility nightmare, especially (but not only) for people with hearing loss. I can't make out any conversation in a noisy environment so usually switch to try-to-filter-noise-and-fail plus some amateur form of lip reading which works ok for a casual conversation but not for a more serious one. Hearing is "ok" enough though when testing, so no clue what it is. It helps a lot when the ambient noise level…

Same here. I have a (I think) very good ear in silent environments,for example I can hear a very faint sound at night, but I always struggled following conversations in music clubs or bar with high music volumes. I always end up nodding and saying "yeah yeah" even if I have no remote idea of what the other person is saying.

Edit: but OTOH I see people having actual conversations in those same environments, so I guess it doesn't affect everyone in the same way, and it's not either something fully related to how my eardrums are capable of working...

Re: AI headphones let wearer listen to a single person in a crowd by looking at them

#129

Post by eequah9L »

abdullahkhalids wrote: post #122
wazoox wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The French youtuber Deus Ex silicium made a through analysis. Basically, hearing aids are slightly worse than ordinary wireless headphones, but 10 times more expensive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPmwfbLPHG8

I doubt that is true. The hearing aids sold as medical devices, have to satisfy regulatory standards. So a lot of incentive to use older reliable tech. Not to mention, it probably takes a couple of years to get the certification for a device. So, any device to market is easily 2-3 years old tech by definition.

I think you meant "I don't doubt"? Because none of what you said sounds like a counterargument to what the parent said.

Re: AI headphones let wearer listen to a single person in a crowd by looking at them

#130

Post by datpiff »

abdullahkhalids wrote: post #122
wazoox wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The French youtuber Deus Ex silicium made a through analysis. Basically, hearing aids are slightly worse than ordinary wireless headphones, but 10 times more expensive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPmwfbLPHG8

I doubt that is true. The hearing aids sold as medical devices, have to satisfy regulatory standards. So a lot of incentive to use older reliable tech. Not to mention, it probably takes a couple of years to get the certification for a device. So, any device to market is easily 2-3 years old tech by definition.

> Not to mention, it probably takes a couple of years to get the certification for a device. So, any device to market is easily 2-3 years old tech by definition.

Approval can be quicker for hearing aids as there are already works-alike devices on the market. 510(k) clearance takes less than 6 months.

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