Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

washington.edu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

301–310 of 452 posts

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

#301

Post by richwater »

fennecfoxy wrote: post #200
cushychicken wrote: post #182

I used to work at Sonos, long before their current app update debacle and headphone debut. During the first aborted product effort to develop headphones, we were looking at a conceptual feature similar to this - selectively allowing people’s voices through the ANC chipset. I don’t recall the exact approach the DSP folks were using (I was closer to the hardware for ANC) but they were really only able to figure out how…

I wouldn't ever want Sonos hearing aids. Universally Sonos units have basic functionality problems such as not reconnecting to Wifi that has gone down and come back up, especially if the Wifi has changed channel during that time. The "technical" solution is to pull the plug and reboot it (which you can't even do remotely, even if it's connected to Wifi and you want to reboot because Spotify connect on Sonos can be bu…

Spotify connect on most devices is buggy as hell.

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

#302

Post by tripzilch »

kk6mrp wrote: post #285
LeifCarrotson wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lowering the volume can help with the SNR, because neither the signal, the noise, nor the lowering effect caused by earplugs are consistent with respect to frequency. Highly objectionable, harsh 4-8 kHz noise that might echo around a concrete and steel venue is blocked well by good earplugs, while low-frequency 100-400 Hz speech is ineffectively blocked.

Do you have a good earplug recommendation?

I have some of these https://www.loopearplugs.com/

They're super comfortable and they don't look weird like the neon yellow foam ones :) Before I always disliked wearing earplugs when I have to at concerts, but the ones from Loop I just wear anywhere I like that is too loud

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

#303

Post by abeisgreat »

countvonbalzac wrote: post #300
floatrock wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> restaurant and public space designers have stopped thinking about sound. Most bars opened in the last 15 years have cement floors, very little sound insulation, and they’re based on the idea that you’re not having a good time unless your ears are ringing. Recently listened to a really good podcast about this phenomenon https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gastropod/id918896288?... (or pick your favorite podcast ap…

Aren't there some cheap ways to muffle sound? Wood floors, rugs, curtains, artwork, acoustic panels, etc.

There definitely are but, perhaps by definition, items soft enough to dampen sound are often easily damaged so they aren’t great fits for most commercial locations.

They are also out of vogue as was mentioned, unless you’re a coffee shop then these “cozy” items just aren’t as common right now.

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

#304

Post by dingnuts »

countvonbalzac wrote: post #300
floatrock wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> restaurant and public space designers have stopped thinking about sound. Most bars opened in the last 15 years have cement floors, very little sound insulation, and they’re based on the idea that you’re not having a good time unless your ears are ringing. Recently listened to a really good podcast about this phenomenon https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gastropod/id918896288?... (or pick your favorite podcast ap…

Aren't there some cheap ways to muffle sound? Wood floors, rugs, curtains, artwork, acoustic panels, etc.

yes, really any soft surfaces will damp[0] (not "dampen") sound, but the techniques and materials can get very advanced (and expensive, and effective)

0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damping

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

#305

Post by polartx »

cushychicken wrote: post #182

I used to work at Sonos, long before their current app update debacle and headphone debut. During the first aborted product effort to develop headphones, we were looking at a conceptual feature similar to this - selectively allowing people’s voices through the ANC chipset. I don’t recall the exact approach the DSP folks were using (I was closer to the hardware for ANC) but they were really only able to figure out how…

About once a year I waste about a day shopping for earbuds that would allow me to work in a noisy environment without projecting that noise into my phone calls/conference calls. Never found an adequate product.

Seems like noise cancelling has been solved for the listener (isolation + ANC) but I would sure love a hardware/software combo to come along and allow me to work truly remotely by blocking out noise/isolating my voice to the recipient.

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

#306

Post by withinboredom »

jeffhuys wrote: post #227
withinboredom wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you're off in the woods somewhere far from the cloud, sure, but it's less than 10ms to ping Google.com for me I'm in one of the biggest cities of my current country, and the RTT to google from me is 87-91ms. Well over 4 million people live within 100km of me, so I suspect they see similar latencies. On my cell, I see 191-207ms.

That’s a shockingly high latency for a major city! Getting 3ms to google.com here, big city in the Netherlands. Probably close to a data center.

Also in a big city in the Netherlands, but I just blame ziggo. We're getting fiber in my neighborhood ... "soon" ... so we'll see how it is once that happens.

Looks like a good 60ms is nothing but buffer-bloat in the router, as when pinging directly from the router, the RTT is much less.

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

#308

Post by Spoom »

kk6mrp wrote: post #285
LeifCarrotson wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lowering the volume can help with the SNR, because neither the signal, the noise, nor the lowering effect caused by earplugs are consistent with respect to frequency. Highly objectionable, harsh 4-8 kHz noise that might echo around a concrete and steel venue is blocked well by good earplugs, while low-frequency 100-400 Hz speech is ineffectively blocked.

Do you have a good earplug recommendation?

Loops are great as a sibling comment mentioned but I had to have very loud dehumidifiers in my house all weekend; I've been walking around with my Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3s in transparency mode (i.e. uses microphones to play sound from the outside into the headphone), and it's been amazing. It cut the audio to a maximum level and let me discern conversations more easily than folks not wearing anything.

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

#309

Post by andrelaszlo »

gertlex wrote: post #268
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…

Curious, is that your first pair of phonaks? If not, is the use use of bluetooth + app hurting your soul? My current pair are about 6 years old, working fine still, thankfully... But in a recent visit to audiologist, they had me test out a newer pair... but they had a single button instead of rocker + button, and bluetooth/app was touted. I dread the touchscreen phase of HA as a young person with functional fingers (…

Second, but first with BT.

Connecting to the app takes forever and frequently fails. It seems to clash with the Android device pairing somehow. It's not great. The only workaround I've found (if restarting the things by opening/closing the battery compartment doesn't work) is to remove the pairing and set them up again.

I also would prefer to set up the programs once and then switch them with physical buttons. I had my audiologist do something like that with my old pair. New audiologist now that doesn't seem as flexible, or maybe it's not possible.

The bad app experience is honestly a reason for me to look at other brands for my next pair.

I'd like to think that a bit of a learning curve is okay for something that's basically an extension of your body, but everything seems to be getting stevejobsified these days. (I'll be driving my 2006 Saab until my mechanic either retires or runs out of spare parts!)

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

#310

Post by LeifCarrotson »

swader999 wrote: post #296
kk6mrp wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a good earplug recommendation?

I like these best for low cost plugs. Howard Leight LL-1 Laser LiteUncorded Foam Earplugs Box, 200 Pair https://a.co/d/3REDT7l

Ha! I bought the same box literally a month ago, this listing ships Prime and costs a little less: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0007XJOLG

Those are great for the workshop, but they're flourescent green and pink. That makes it easy to see when someone's wearing them, which is good in a shop but usually bad in social settings.

Post reply on HN