Improve Your Hearing With Vision 57
Ant writes "CNET News.com reports that there is a new pair of "hearing glasses," hearing-impaired people might both see and hear better--and have better social lives.
A novel pair of glasses recently released on the market not only improve bad eyesight, but also work as a hearing aid. Developed by the Delft University of Technology and Dutch company Varibel, the glasses promise to keep hearing-impaired people active and social.
While in-ear hearing aids usually work well for conversation in quiet surroundings, many people who wear them face problems in more lively environments. Since all incoming sounds are amplified, background noises easily take over, cause discomfort and make conversations difficult. Varibel says its glasses can detect which direction sounds come from, amplifying words spoken directly to the wearer while dampening background noise."
Prototype also popular among acid users. (Score:3, Funny)
Truer words have never been spoken (or heard!) (Score:3, Funny)
- Martine van Hulst (48)
I've got bad hearing due to a terrible Post-it note accident so I would definitely be in the market for something like this. Sometimes when my einde is oplossing, I hoor voor een naar with my goede van speurtocht and it works itself right out.
I bet that smarts. (Score:2)
I hate when that happens.
Re:I bet that smarts. (Score:1)
Re:Truer words have never been spoken (or heard!) (Score:2)
Yay, college taught me something.
Re:Truer words have never been spoken (or heard!) (Score:2)
Uh, (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Uh, (Score:3, Funny)
Oh god, I can only imagine what it is like trying to communicate the goatse man using only touching.....
Re:Uh, (Score:2)
No irony in that sentence there! Nope. No siree!
Re:Uh, (Score:1)
How did you get past the CAPTCHA to create an account?
Traditional Hearing Aids (Score:4, Insightful)
For only having two ears, we humans are very good at determining the direction sounds come from. Thanks to the shape of the ear being able to sort sounds based on direction, we are able to know where a sound came from and whether it is background noise or not. While I do not wear hearing aids, I do hear from people that do wear them that while the aids amplify sounds, they completely screw up our sense of direction as well as what is background noise, voices, oncoming traffic, etc. Because they are so large, they interfere with the natural shape of the ear and the brain's trained response to figuring out what sounds come from where.
Isn't there a better way? Are there hearing aids that are less obtrusive to the natural function of the ear while still amplifying sounds? And I am not talking about glasses. This seems to be the band-aid and duct tape solution to me. Sure, vision tends to suffer in elderly people with bad hearing, but this is not always true. What about a young hearing-impaired person who does not need glasses? I have a friend with razor-sharp vision (20/15) but thanks to a previous job, is nearly deaf. While he gets by without a hearing aid (mainly because of his pride), I am sure if there was something less obtrusive that would still work and not require him to wear glasses he doesn't need, he would use it.
I really am interested to hear what people have to say. My vision already sucks, I know when I get older my hearing will probably follow. I would like to start following what technology can do for stuff like this that I will probably have to deal with in my old age. Now get off my lawn, damn kids!
Re:Traditional Hearing Aids (Score:5, Informative)
Decrease in hearing with aging is for a large part the cumulative effect of exposure to noise: It has been demonstrated that the most important factor of hearing degradation is not aging alone, but rather the cumulative long-term exposure to environmental and occupational noise that create the harm [wikipedia.org] The standard guideline of 40 h/week at 85 dB(A) is way too lax from a medical point of view; 70 dB(A) (30 times lower acoustic power) would be more reasonable. So you yourself can for a great part affect how much of your hearing you will be losing.
For your information: I tested with a decibel meter how loud 70 dB(A) and 85 dB(A) are on a headphone. Well, 85 dB sounds to me like a nice listening volume, and someone sitting very close to you in the train might even hear some noise escaping from your headphone. (I used an over-ear open headphone). It boggles my mind what people in the train are doing to their ears when I hear their music coming out of their earbuds over the background noise from 3 meters distance.
As you can guess, 70 dB is actually quite soft. It might work in a quiet environment, but anywhere else you will clearly hear environmental sounds.
Re:Traditional Hearing Aids (Score:2)
I rarely use headphones, and when I do, I will not use the little ear buds. I've always had a suspicion about them negatively affecting hearing, and recent studies back up my natural skepticism. That and they really aren't comfortable, and don't sound good.
Anyway, I am one of those quiet people that doesn't like loud noises. Even listening to music, I don't like it so loud I can't have a conversation over it. The only time I ever intentionally crank up the volume is when watching/listening to DVDs on my ho
Re:Traditional Hearing Aids (Score:2)
Can you clarify this? Regarding hearing damage, I'd say there shouldn't be a difference whether you listen to 85 dB (A) through earbuds, large headphones, or loudspeakers. However, you need less acoustical power with earbuds since they are closer to the eardrum, so if other people can hear your earbuds, that's a much worse sign than if other people can hear your over-ear
Would imitating barn owls help any? (Score:2)
We're talking about how to know where a sound's from [ncsu.edu], and the natural world is full of good solutions to crib from in localizing noise.
Owls are particularly well-adapted to enhance hearing. Among the tricks they use are their concave "facial disks"
Re:Traditional Hearing Aids (Score:2)
Traditional hearing aids are very good nowadays and have a directional quality to them already. The in
Re:Traditional Hearing Aids (Score:2)
You just use glass blanks that don't refract the image. I think that if I was hearing impaired and I had the choice between sticking something in my ear all the time that didn't work very well and wearing a pair of glasses that didn't do anything optically but made my hearing more normal I'd go with the glasses.
Name it right,,, (Score:3, Insightful)
I normaly don't do this but this one really bugs me
Re:Name it right,,, (Score:1)
Re:Name it right,,, (Score:1)
Deaf glasses (Score:2, Interesting)
I think these could help but the most important thing people need to do is get deafness into education at school and work level.
I am currently unemployed and finding work is (so far) impossible. I only recently lost my hearing (hereditary) so I know what work I can do, just need the right people to work with.
Being able to hear with these "glasses" would help but you need support from people around you too.
Re:Deaf glasses (Score:4, Informative)
It honestly doesn't take much. I went to college at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), home to the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID). The whole campus was rigged to be deaf-friendly, and it really wasn't a big deal. All it took was people being aware of the deaf issue. I am sure job interviews would be challenging with an employer that is not prepared with sign language or an interpreter, but beyond that, it mainly takes the willingness to work together. Some people make disabilities in the workplace out to be huge hurdles, and some employers balk at installing wheelchair ramps, desks to accomodate certain disabilities, etc. when it really isn't all that bad. People just need to calm down, think rationally, and realize that being deaf is a disability but is not a huge deal as far as employment goes.
If I were you I would look around for organizations designed to help deaf people, such as giving employment advice. As I mentioned, the interviewing process will likely be challenging at first. Maybe someone has a list of deaf-friendly employers that made accomodations in the past. I am sure there is help out there if you need it.
Re:Deaf glasses (Score:1)
I am in the process of doing this, but I didn't think I'd need it. I can hear people if I can see them and if it's fairly quiet. I thought an office would be fine, but five minut
Re:Deaf glasses (Score:2)
The stats say 5% of people are deaf, what on earth do they do for a living?
The same things as everyone else. Well, certain occupations might be difficult or not allowed (e.g. military pilot is probably off limits), but I have personally interacted with deaf people in a variety of professions either as coworkers or clients. Honestly, you should do whatever you are trained to do. Just make adjustments as necessary to accomodate your hearing loss. It takes time for [potential] coworkers to adjust as well. O
Re:Deaf glasses (Score:1)
Re:Deaf glasses (Score:1)
Well I couldn't find a PM button, also I' in Australia not the US.
Thanks though.
Re:Deaf glasses (Score:2)
I'm actually fascinated by this. How does communicating with the judge and (especially) with the jury work? I'd be worried about the jury being prejudiced against a deaf lawyer if any special measures were taken for communication out of the normal since people typically have a negative attitude towards waiting for translation or people whose voices sound a littl
Re:Deaf glasses (Score:2, Interesting)
My hearing (and voice) are good enough that I can communicate orally for the most part. I simply let the judges know before an argument that I cannot hear well, and that I may ask them to repeat themselve
Re:Deaf glasses (Score:2)
If you don't mind me asking, what kind of appelate court cases do you normally work, and how'd you find the job? I toy with the idea of law school occasionally, but I'm sort of ignorant about the variety of jobs available if I pursue that path.
Some attorneys prefer not to use "terps" and instead use Computer-Aided Real-Time Captioning (CART). That works well in a trial situation, in particular, bec
Re:Deaf glasses (Score:1)
CART works extremely well. They are not camera based at all, and there is no need for gloves or other attachments. Have you ever seen a court reporter work? That is exa
Re:Deaf glasses (Score:2)
I would love to hear the GP's experiences at the district court/state trial level, though. Very interesting subject here.
Re:Deaf glasses (Score:2)
Re:Deaf glasses (Score:2)
Who's bowe? (Score:2)
Wow. A nonsensical title, a misspelling in the "dept" line. Hemos is on the ball today!
Re:Who's bowe? (Score:2)
The "big secret" is simply directional microphones (Score:4, Informative)
Re:The "big secret" is simply directional micropho (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:The "big secret" is simply directional micropho (Score:2)
Most high-end hearing aids have had external processors that do this kind of thing for a decade
*Snigger* (Score:4, Funny)
So it seems that when people want to laugh at the deaf guy with the weird glasses, they have to quite literally go behind his back...
Re:*Snigger* (Score:2)
Re:*Snigger* (Score:2)
And unfortunately thats why these devices never take off. They look weird. That's why all the cool tech gadgets that fit in glasses or watches tend to be still-births. And even if they did look SOMEWHAT decent...the problem is that glasses and watches are more fashion accessories today than functional items. So when you release a product with a really cool function in one of those form factors...the fact that your fashio
This isn't new (Score:2, Informative)
Yes it is (Score:2)
Did you RTA? "Varibel says its glasses can detect which direction sounds come from, amplifying words spoken directly to the wearer while dampening background noise."
Do any existing hearing aids embedded in glasses detect the direction sounds are coming from and dynamically adjust the volume of different sounds depending on the direction? Didn't think so --- that's pretty smart functionality.
I know this is slashdot and all so we're all supposed to eagerly clamour to point out why the article "isn't news" i
Re:This isn't new (Score:1)
Re:This isn't new (Score:2)
How do they detect directionality without multiple microphones?
The article says the sound is processed by a microchip, which probably implies digitally.
"Hearing impaired" (Score:2)
I think the term is appropriate for people like me, being neither deaf nor normal. I lost 50% in one ear. (that ear then gets ignored by the brain, so I have no directional capability) I suppose "partially deaf" is also OK, but I take "deaf" to mean "100% impaired" or nearly so.
It's like "blind" and "vision impaired".
It's like "dead" and "sick", or "dead" and "sleeping". Elvi
Bone conduction? (Score:2)
FFT would be nice (Score:2)
Re:FFT would be nice (Score:1)
Oh yeah! Imagine a HUD in the glasses displaying a real-time logarithmically scaled spectrogram of the sound, and that somehow you would have learn to understand what people say from looking at it, that'd be awesome. The main problem is that even if you could do that, it would be quite hard concentrating on a spectrogram that would block your sight and do anything else at the same time.
Solution without a problem (Score:2)
(b)The algorithms in current DSP based hearing aids work fine for most people. In my case, Program A: noise rejection, Program b: full range Program c: mobile phone pickup. I find that most people over about 40 have difficulty picking out speech in some situations where I don't.
Glasses improving one's social life? (Score:1)
Re:Glasses improving one's social life? (Score:2)
Voice of sanity here. Glasses definitely don't hurt social life.
Hearing loss on the other hand definitely does. Trust me, it's fucking terrible being in a social situation and only being able to pick up fragments of conversation.
Regular digital hearing aids work superbly in a defined environment - seminars, business meetings, small group conversations. Put them into a crowded noisy environment, like a pub, a club, even a busy cafe, and their benefit is vastly reduced.
Add to that the fact that hearing aids a
No background noise? (Score:2, Funny)
Which is great until you're using a cell phone while standing on some train tracks.