For $9.99, SoundAMP does the work of hearing aids costing hundreds of dollars.
An iPhone can take the place of all kinds of gear--an air mouse, a metronome, a golfer's GPS, and so on. Now, thanks to SoundAMP, it can fill in for a hearing aid as well.
The $9.99 app turns an iPhone or second-gen iPod Touch into an "interactive hearing device"--a fancy way of saying it amplifies the sound around you.
All you do is fire up SoundAMP and plug in a pair of earphones. (iPod Touch users will need one with an inline microphone.) Then just raise or lower the oversize slider until you get the volume you want.
The app also lets you adjust the tone to your liking, helpful for users who have hearing loss in specific tonal areas.
There's even a kind of "audio DVR" feature: you can replay the last 5 or 30 seconds of a conversation just by tapping an onscreen button.
According to the developers, SoundAMP improves your hearing quality in a variety of environments, including lecture halls and noisy restaurants. Thus, it has the potential to help students as well as the hearing-impaired.
At $9.99, the app is considerably cheaper than any hearing aid--though obviously you need a not-so-cheap iPhone or iPod Touch to use it. If you happen to be among the target audience for this app, hit the comments and let us know if it (sorry) sounds like a winner.
The Flexfit costs $79 and offers 400 hours of usage.
(Credit: Songbird Hearing)With all of us destroying our ears listening to our iPods--and other portable music devices--chances are we're all going to need hearing aids someday. Well, there's some good news for those of you looking ahead to your golden years: Songbird Hearing, Inc. has officially released its new inexpensive disposable hearing aid, the Songbird Flexfit.
According to the company's press release, "Traditional hearing aids can cost as much as $6,000 and involve professional office visits and fittings to be effective." The key development here is that Songbird is selling the Flexfit for $79 and it lasts 2 to 6 months (400 hours) before you have to exchange it for a new one. Songbird Hearing also says that the Flexfit can "be easily adjusted to fit almost anyone without the need for a hearing exam." In other words, you can order it right over the Internet or by phone without having your hearing tested by a professional (I'm not sure whether that's good or bad).
The release also notes:
Research indicates that people will use the aid for situational use, such as during business meetings, while watching television, at family gatherings, or participating in worship services. When used this way, Songbird will last for two to six months, and then can be simply replaced with a brand new unit, eliminating the need for the professional maintenance traditional hearing aids often require.
Anybody worried they're going to need one of these soon? Are iPods destroying our hearing as computer screens are destroying everyone's eyes--or at least bloggers' eyes?
(Credit:
Nokia)
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 to the hearing aid. Nokia expects the Loopset to ship next year, selling for about $315.
(Credit:
FirstStreet)
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 some kind of DIY ham radio contraption? As products like fashion hearing aids show, not everything made for the middle-age market needs to fall in company with tennis-ball walkers.
(Credit:
Crave Asia)
Does hearing actually go first as you get older? For those who've always feared dead giveaways like hearing aids and bifocals, help is on the way. Perhaps taking a cue from Oakley's MP3-playing Thump, a company called Varibel is developing eyewear that hears.
It won't give provide bionic auditory powers, but it does promise vastly improved hearing through a device built directly into a pair of eyeglasses. Embedded over the length of each spectacle arm are four tiny microphones that transmit sounds from the front and simultaneously block background noise.
The result is "directional sensitivity"--sounds coming from the direction of the wearer's gaze are amplified while those from ambient surroundings are quieted. This helps make conversations clearer in noisy environments where standard hearing aids can often be thwarted by the din.
Charging is even simplier. The rechargeable batteries are hidden in the ends of the arms, so it's an easy matter of docking the ends of the frames into a special recharging stand overnight to juice up.
Based on technology developed at the Delft University of Technology, Varibel, which produced the "hearing glasses" in partnership with Philips, aims to showcase the invention at the upcoming SICEX 2008 organized by Singapore's Silver Industry Committee. Couple this with light-adaptive and no-line bifocal progressive lenses, and you might be able to fool some people after all.
(Source: Crave Asia)
(Credit:
PC News)
Don't get us wrong: We're all in favor of using fashion, or whatever else it takes, to de-stigmatize ailments. But a gold and diamond hearing aid isn't exactly what we had in mind.
Unlike the tasteful designs we've seen in other versions, Widex is offering a horrific 24k hearing device and controller studded with 220 diamonds, according to Gizmodo, for the princely sum of $49,590. Even if carbon-bearing materials have some kind of audio-enhancement properties that we don't know about, this has got to be one of the more ridiculous examples of egregious excess we've seen in awhile. And that's saying a lot.
(Credit:
Mobile Magazine)
It's not unusual--and a good thing, in our opinion--for designers to come up with ways to de-stigmatize diseases, as we've seen with such products as fashionable asthma inhaler cases. What we didn't anticipate, though, was that hearing aids would be the next cause.
Although they may look like new Bluetooth headsets, the items pictured here are actually "Personal Communication Aids" created by the Phonak Group, which describes them as "the ultimate high-tech accessory," according to Inventor Spot. The Swiss company is apparently targeting those Boomers who actually believe that stuff about 50 being the new 37 or whatever.
The devices do enhance sound quality as well as sheer volume, according to the company, so some will undoubtedly try to pass them off as super-high-end headsets. And why not? At prices between $1,500 and $3,500, buyers should be able to call them whatever they want.
Intergenerational tech musings today: The New York Times has an interesting report about new advances in hearing aid technology. Companies are motivated to meet the needs of aging baby boomers facing progressive hearing loss.
But how to overcome the stigma of hearing aid use for this potential market of 78 million people? Recent innovation has led to new devices that look more like Bluetooth headsets or iPod headphones than older models that resembled "a chewed Circus Peanut."
... Read more
(Credit:
Yanko Design)
It seems that we struck a nerve with our post the other day on the "Sonic Bomb" eardrum-shattering alarm clock, perhaps a testament to today's multitasked but sleep-deprived society. As a reader service, therefore, we thought we should add the Engio's "Vibrating Alarm Watch" to the list of anti-sleep aids.
It's actually intended for hearing-impaired people, vibrating and blinking when a public alarm is sounded. The watch's mechanisms are triggered by microphones built into its strap that can be programmed to detect specific frequencies. This could be useful even for some whose hearing isn't impaired--such as those who seem to have iPod earbuds permanently implanted in their aural canals. (You know who you are.)
(Credit:
Mobilewhack)
Sometimes it seems that the entire population is wearing a headset or earphones. So why should there be a different pair for every function?
Sony Ericsson thinks there shouldn't, so it's come out with a wireless headset kit that can be used for Bluetooth cell phone signals, USB connections and even VoIP calls. It can run for up to 12 hours of continuous talk time or 300 when idle, according to Electronista.
Now if we can just figure out how to make it work with an iPod, we'll be all set.
