hearing

Hearwho crunches text into MP3s for your amusement

Listening to MP3s of robotic voices reading stories from the Web is a good way to prepare for the eventual downfall of mankind at the hands of our robotic overlords. If you're into that kind of thing, Hearwho will do all the heavy lifting for you by converting any text you feed it into a downloadable MP3 file.

If you've spent hours amusing yourself playing with AT&T's text-to-speech demo, you'll be glad to know that Hearwho does away with the somewhat annoying 300-character limit. I dumped an entire 800-word story into the text box … Read more

The 404 143: Where it's talking to you

Per usual, we push the envelope in the preshow today and it starts to leak into the beginning of today's episode, but we quickly (maybe not so quickly) seal it up and get into our story rundown. We criticize our sue-happy country and its propensity for stupid T-shirts, speak to the potential power of iPhone gaming, introduce a new S&M Barbie doll (therapy not included), and snap our way through this year's Emmy nominees. EPISODE 143 Download today's podcast

Did Google's lawyer reveal too much about the Ad Alliance Plan?

Today's GYM (that's Google, Yahoo, Microsoft) Congressional hearing, in which many lawyers told many truths in front of many excited Congressfolk, was very revealing.

Perhaps accidentally.

Although I missed the actual event, choosing to breathe slightly fresher air, I have been rapt in scrutinizing the words of the respective lawyers from the three companies.

If I might summarize for busy and self-respecting readers:

Google said: "Anti-competitive? Us? That's like saying the New York Yankees will win every year. And they don't. Which entirely proves our point, so we really don't know why we should … Read more

Nokia turns hearing aids into Bluetooth headsets

Headset makers probably aren't hurting for business these days, at least in California and Washington state. But even without the new laws, Nokia may have found another market.

Its "Wireless Loopset" is a device designed to hang around the neck that basically turns a t-coil-equipped hearing aid into a Bluetooth headset. In addition to providing the wireless connection, the Loopset includes such features as vibrating alerts and single-button dialing, according to Gearlog, and willl also work with cochlear implants.

While looped around the neck, the device greatly reduces the chance of interference because of its close proximity … Read more

Australian study on hearing implicates iPods and other portable players

"Justin...Justin...JUSTIN!!!"

This happens at least once a day...I'm at my desk, typing up a review or blog post on my computer, when all of a sudden someone sneaks up behind me and unintentionally make me jump 10 feet in the air with a simple tap on the back. How do I allow this to happen? Am I deaf? Well, not right now, but it's quite possible that I might be if I continue to constantly blast music out of my Princess Leia headphones.

A recent report out of Australia titled "Is Australia Listening?" … Read more

Sensear, the hearing aid for aircraft carriers

There's not a lot of talking on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier. Yelling, yes. Talking, no. It's so noisy, everyone wears military-grade hearing protection.

If you work in a similar acoustic environment--maybe on a factory floor, at construction sites, or in the stands at rock concerts--you might want to check out the Sensear SP1, which protects your hearing by blocking out damaging noise while allowing speech through.

The rig consists of noise-blocking earpieces with embedded microphones for picking up outside sound.

The SP1 doesn't actively cancel sound. In fact it is designed to make sure … Read more

Say What? A do-it-yourself hearing test CD

If you occasionally experience "ringing in the ears" after exposure to loud sounds or concerts, you may be losing your hearing. To find out where you stand check out Digital Recordings' hearing test CD. It can be used to set a baseline of your hearing, and if you're geeky enough, retest yourself the day after attending a loud concert, working with power tools, or riding a snowmobile. A few hours or even a day later your hearing acuity will be significantly reduced. It's kinda like a preview of what's to come, if you don't stop abusing your ears.

That short-term deafness is sometimes referred to as Temporary Threshold Shift (TTS). But repeated episodes of temporary hearing loss, with insufficient recovery times between exposures will eventually lead to permanent hearing loss. At that point there's no need to keep reading the Audiophiliac blog. … Read more

A home phone that's as loud as it is ugly

If there were a polar opposite to the sleek good looks of Philips' home phones, this might be it.

Granted, the "Pro Amplified Phone Center" may well be packed with useful functions, including four tone levels amplified up to 50 decibels for those who may be losing their hearing, according to GeekAlerts. (We were tipped off by the fact that this came from FirstStreet, the catalog that carries such items as the "Lite and Motion Head Lite Cap" in fulfilling its mission to serve "Boomers and Beyond.")

But does it have to look like … Read more

Transmission supplier sues Tesla

Tesla Motors is an innovator in electric cars--and it's got a lot of lawsuits, too.

Earth2Tech has dug up a lawsuit filed by Magna on February 22, 2008 that alleges that the car company failed to pay Magna for transmission work it accomplished. The suit, filed in the Superior Court of San Mateo County, seeks $5.6 million in damages.

This should be an interesting one to watch. Magna no doubt will try to bring a lot of details to light behind the delays that Tesla faced in bringing its Tesla Roadster to market. Tesla, for its part, will … Read more

How we hear one voice amid many

Scientists in Germany believe they have discovered how humans are able to filter out unimportant noise in order to zoom in on that single voice they want to hear.

Neuroscientist Holger Schulze and his colleagues think the brain's auditory system probably sorts different sources of sound based on their unique pitch and suppresses less important ones.

The scientists conducted experiments on gerbils, which have a similar hearing mechanism to humans, reports Live Science.

Read the story at Live Science: "Party trick: How we hear one voice amid many"