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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

#341

Post by s0rce »

superultra wrote: post #185
serial_dev wrote: post #162

If the size could shrink to the size of a small earplug, I'd love to use this as a person who is not hearing-impaired (at least they couldn't diagnose me with it, so now I'm not sure if their diagnostics sucks, or I'm just a normal person and others pretend better that they hear everything well) . In groups and with friends, it's inevitable that you end up in a busy restaurant or a bar, and it always frustrates me th…

I could not hear anyone in any crowded situation. At middle age I thought my hearing was leaving. Yet every audiologist I went to said my hearing was fine. So I found the best audiologist in my fairly large metro area, and scheduled a year in advance (the wait list was that long). After a whole day of tests the audiologist comes in and says I have good news and bad news and good bad news. The good news is that my hea…

There are some restaurants we don't often go to because they are too loud to be enjoyable. Luckily its patio weather most of the year here in California so eating outside is generally much quieter and enjoyable.

I also have trouble discerning sounds in crowded spaces. Thanks for sharing your diagnosis, really interesting to think about.

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

#342

Post by xeromal »

skydhash wrote: post #75
xeromal wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

lol. My partner and I share a home office and I've worn ear plugs + my range headphones (or my bose 700s) and I can still hear her clacking away and talking on meetings. I'm sure I'm some kind of spaz but god I wish I had something that could completely mute all sounds except my rain sounds. lol

You want iems. The same kind of earphones musicians wear on sets. The cons is that they can be uncomfortable for long periods. I’m right next to a night club and I’m glad I have a pair lying around.

Thank you, I'll check these out. I'm willing to pay a pretty penny at this point.

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

#343

Post by kayodelycaon »

mrandish wrote: post #319
kayodelycaon wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It can also happen with ADHD. I seem to have difficulty integrating sensory information and thinking at the same time. If it’s noisy, it causes a series of buffer overflows at every level of cognition.

Yep, I have ADHD and have always needed to put more effort toward parsing a particular sound in a dense sound field than other people. I've also always had trouble quickly identifying a particular object in a dense visual field. My wife jokes I'm "the world's worst 'Where's Waldo' player". I can still manage to do these things but it takes longer, requires more effort and I'm generally never as good at it as others s…

> I've also always had trouble quickly identifying a particular object in a dense visual field.

I never considered ADHD affecting my visual processing but it very well could be.

> Interestingly, it's not that I didn't hear the sound of the words, it feels more like a lag in mental context switching to parse the sounds into meaning.

Happens to me all the time, I'm listening but sometimes my brain blips. I hear the words, but I no longer remember them by the time I'm trying to understand them.

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

#344

Post by tmtvl »

solarengineer wrote: post #295
Pxtl wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've taken to wearing bone-conductors waaaaay to much, and I'm impressed with their flexibility for stuff like this. They keep my ears open, but when I need to hear the headset more clearly (like if I'm in a crowded area and taking a call) I can plug my ear with my finger and that both improves the audio quality of the bone conductor (it creates a speaker cabinet in your ear for a much fuller sound) and blocks out th…

Shokz has these bone conductor headsets with mics.

I had Shokz bone-conducting headphones (openmove or something like that?), but unfortunately the battery died after a single charge. It was a shame 'cause I was really fond of them. If/when my headphones give the ghost I'll give them another shot.

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

#345

Post by 93po »

oaktowner wrote: post #318
dingnuts wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Whoa! Thanks for the clarification. As a word aficionado, I did not realize the correct form of this one.

as a fellow pedant, i also really appreciated this clarification. i love it when i learn i've been saying something wrong!

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

#346

Post by 93po »

oldkinglog wrote: post #323
dingnuts wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Why can't "dampen" be applied to oscillators? It means "To lessen; to dull; to make less intense" in this case.

i think the point is that it's one of those words misused so widely that dictionaries updated the definition to include the incorrect use.

dampen means to make something wet, or at least originally that's what it meant

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

#347

Post by follower »

Wildgoose wrote: post #133

My daughter has an auditory impairment which she describes as "brain deaf". Basically, her hearing is perfect but her brain struggles to process sound in a noisy environment; she can't single out what she is listening to. This sounds perfect for her!

Mentioned elsewhere in the comments but in case it's helpful:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_auditory_attention

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditory_processing_disorder

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocktail_party_effect

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

#348

Post by follower »

darkwater wrote: post #128
consp wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

These have been mentioned elsewhere in the comments but in case it's helpful:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_auditory_attention

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditory_processing_disorder

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocktail_party_effect

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

#349

Post by floatrock »

roughly wrote: post #334
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…

If you’re near Berkeley, CA, one of the owners of the restaurant Comal also owns a sound company that builds that kind of system, and they use Comal as a showplace. The effect is astounding - it’s an industrial-style design, and it’s got auditory “ambiance”, but you can have a full conversation at normal speaking volumes with everyone at the table. It’s the kind of thing where once you experience it, you’ll judge the…

Comal is one of the subjects of that podcast episode

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

#350

Post by whimsicalism »

chabad360 wrote: post #7

This could actually be really helpful to me, as I have trouble hearing someone speaking in a busy room because my mind is trying to pick up everything (I think this is because of my ADHD). Having a way to significantly quiet out other noises aside for the voice of the person I'm speaking with would be amazing.

i don't know much about adhd/autism, but i'm pretty sure i'm somewhat autistic and have this problem really really bad. i score fine on hearing tests where i just have to listen for quiet beeps but have a lot of trouble processing what people are saying especially in a crowded setting. my dad also has this issue
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