Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Hearing Aid Hacking's LiveJournal:

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Thursday, May 10th, 2012
1:57 pm [mnixon77550]	In ear device Hello All, As I'm new here, I thought I'd introduce myself.  I'm Mike and own a small company.  I'm an EE and working on a small in-ear device akin to a bluetooth headset.  However, we want these to be completely custom and have some processing capability.  These will communicate with a portable electronics "pod" for speed recognition for command and control. Think "Siri over Bluetooth" and you'll have a good approximation of what we are creating.  So I'm interested in microphones, receivers, encoding, wireless transmission (low power), etc.  I'm starting back through the archives so hope to catch up soon. Mike (Comment on this)
Saturday, April 28th, 2012
2:46 pm [nerak_rose]	recording sound with a phonak smartlink Hello everyone. I have a Phonak Smartlink+ which I use mainly in class/lectures and when listening to music. I just plug it into the laptop or my ipod and voilá, sweet music in my ears. I'm also involved in fandom and I've gotten to the point where I want to try to record podfic (like audiobooks, but of fanfiction) and podcasts and I'm not very keen on spending a lot of money on a new microphone for the purpose when I already have a high-quality mic in my smartlink - I know it is; I use it every day. THE PROBLEM: according to the manual, I can only make sound go from the smartlink to my hearing aids (well, the boots to be precise). What I want to do is in some way to use my smartlink as a microphone while using audacity on the laptop to record whatever I'm speaking into it. Unfortunately my laptop doesn't have bluetooth (though I reckon a USB-bluetooth receiver would be more inexpensive than a brand new microphone, so that's not an issue). In short: I don't care if it's via a cord or bluetooth, as long as there is a way for me to use the smartlink as a microphone. Only, I don't really know how to go about it...according to the manual, the plugin on the smartlink with the neat 'microphone' symbol is only for external microphones, that is to say, not really helpful to my situation as it still just means sound transmitting to my hearing aids. Solutions? Do you beautiful people know of a way to make this work? (p.s. I know there's a built-in microphone in the laptop, but the sound quality is atrocious.) (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, April 14th, 2012
8:56 pm [helgarhelgar]	Your voice heard! Hi! Some of you might remember me, I posted several times about my project hackandhear.com and the talk I gave about hearing aids at a hacker conference in Berlin.  Since I gave this talk, among others journalists and hearing aid vendors started to approach me. Seems that my talk raised quite some interested in and awareness of the problems of hearing-impaired. Because I often get asked the same question "What are your wishes to the hearing aid industry", I wrote down a 10-point-wishlist. I chose these points because of my own experiences, but also what I learned from talking to other patients, audiologists and doctors. I regularly point people to this wishlist and some things will get picked there: http://blog.hackandhear.com/?p=121 I wanted to mention this here, because this might be a chance for you to also speak up and add your wishes / comments to the list. My blog has a comment function and I am happy about your opinions. This is a chance for us to tell the industry what sucks and the more we speak up, the more we might get heart. So, please have a look at my list and comment (positively as much critically) on the points. Cheers, Helga (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, March 28th, 2012
5:42 pm [metamel]	Made a call: Phonak Ambra Power Thanks to everyone for their questions/comments/everything on my last (and first) post! Met with my audiologist today and we are going for the Phonak Ambra Power. (Widex is too expensive for Voc Rehab, sorry. Maybe in a decade when I can afford them myself? Or at least I hope I can afford them myself then...) I'm hoping for the M H2O (water/mud/dirt/dust/ADHD-engineer-resistant) case because I'm running Muddy Buddy in the fall (and tend to do that sort of crazy thing). We're doing iCom, the FM unit that plugs into iCom, and I asked her to throw in a DAI cable as well. (She's awesome, and came back at me with "sure, 2 foot or 5 foot?") So, adventures from here: Getting hearing aids! (Voc Rehab, please please please approve these.) I'm hoping to get them before the end of the semester (April 25) or at least before the start of summer term (May 14). Aural rehab + speech therapy... ...for learning German pronunciation. I've been teaching myself how to read and write German (I am awful at speaking and listening for obvious reasons), and a grad student in the languages department here happens to be doing her dissertation on the pronunciation of German by German language-learners, so we're going to experiment with that in conjunction with speech therapy, probably. Taking a hearing aid tech class here (Purdue) in the fall -- the one the audiology students take to learn how to evaluate/choose/test hearing aids. Involves playing with DSP and funky lab test equipment. Will keep y'all posted. Taking a qualitative research methods class here in the summer along with some classmates who know me and my hearing pretty well. And CART. Lots of CART. I hear the class has tons of reading, so that's good; I figured it would be the easiest way for me to test out my HAs "in the wild" where I'm going to use it (academia) because I could have (almost) simultaneous text (CART) and new-audio (HAs) on a subject know pretty well where I have supportive friends (yay, classmates!) to help me if I totally miss everything. (I read super-fast and often trade my reading skills with classmates for "what did the lecturer say again?" support.) There's a way longer post detailing this morass on my blog. But it is going to be one heck of an adventure. I'm excited. (Just remind me to remember this in a month or so when I'm clawing at my ears screaming "sounds don't make SENSE anymore!" in agonized frustration.) (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, March 26th, 2012
5:32 pm [metamel]	Whoa. I think I've found my tribe. I'm sure others have had this reaction before, but... how in the world did I go this long without finding this group? Hi, I'm Mel. http://blog.melchua.com/about has the detailed version, but I'm an electrical and computer engineer, open source hacker, and engineering education researcher currently mid-PhD at Purdue University (amazing audiology & speech department!). Audiogram here, though mid-tones have dropped around 15-30 dB since; I've had a severe high-freq bilateral sensorineural loss since age 2 thanks to mycin meds for pneumonia (I can't complain, though; I'm alive), was fitted with my first HAs at 5 but refused to wear them by the time I was 10. Oral, lipread, have mainstreamed myself into the hearing world my whole life, just now learning about disability resource centers ("wait... CART? wait... this is weird, classes just got way easier") and am trying, in occasional spurts of awkward shyness, to learn more about the Deaf community I spent my entire childhood fighting against being stereotyped into (my family and practically everyone I know is hearing). I play piano (and a couple other instruments, but none as well as piano) and enjoy playing with foreign languages; thankfully I started doing both before they found out about my hearing or I would have believed the folks who are surprised that I can ever talk. Anyway. I'm now 25, looking at getting my first pair of HAs since childhood. Consequently I've been geeking out about this on my own, and am psyched to find like-minded folks online... I've got six options and am torn between them. Reposting here for conciseness: Mid-tier processing: Oticon Acto Power and Phonak Solana Power Mid-tier processing (identical to above but with higher volumes): Oticon Chili SP 5 and Phonak Naida S3 SP  High-end processors: Oticon Agil Pro Power and Phonak Ambra Power This selection is partially dictated by the constraint of having my HAs funded by Indiana's Voc Rehab office (I'm a grad student and can't possibly afford them on my own; I figure that 7 years from now I should at least be on something more than a barebones stipend and will solve the money problem then). Looking through the past posts here, I see a lot of references to Phonak (including the Naida) and fewer Oticon. Tips? Thoughts? Good ways to think about selection? I'm tempted by the Phonak Solana because it comes with a water-resistant (or -proof, but I'm skeptical) casing and I'm pretty rough-and-tumble, though we're not sure that's going to get me the amplification I need. That's something for me and my audiologist to figure out, but I'm hoping that the folks here might have insight as to which manufacturers are friendlier/more receptive to technical inquiries, which things are more hackable/abusable/poke-around-able and better to learn on and with. I'm a Linux hacker and the sort of person who ran Gentoo in college (and switched to Fedora a few months later for maintenance sanity), if that gives you any indication. (12 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, March 21st, 2012
1:50 pm [rippah]	Widex Clear C4FSBR - the good and the bad Context After ten years of using my GN Resound Canta 7's, I was informed by my audiologist that the manufacturer would no longer repair them even if I pay the extra for an out of warranty servicing.  Each time I sent them in to be repaired, I basically got new hearing aids back as they typically replace the entire thing.  My right hearing aid was either not fitted well or it was starting to wear out after 18 months of use, so it was time for me to buy new hearing aids -- especially as professional necessity required that I communicate far more over the phone and in group settings than before. It was not a purchase that I wanted to make at that time, as $6,000 out of pocket is an extraordinary expense -- I had investigated new hearing aids at points in time over the last decade, but did not judge that the improvement in quality worthwhile enough for the cost.  In my perception, hearing aid technology did not improve enough to match the experience of a quantum leap that was going from my Phonak digitally programmable analog hearing aids to my digital Canta 7's.  I have a severe-profound hearing loss with a SRT of 90-92dB, but yet I have a low tolerance for loudness and intensity, so I was a challenge to fit. I am an audiologists' worst and best patient at the same time.  I do not have the professional training, nor do I have anecdotal experience of fitting patients, but I know and understand the technology and science behind signal compression, and psychoacoustic models. I have divided the the rest of this post into three sections, written from the perspective of a major technology geek who is Deaf. Audiologist I have not mentioned my audiologist directly previous to this, as this is primarily a hearing aid technology review.  But a good and conscientious audiologist is essential to the best fitting -- a good hearing aid can sound terrible, and an average hearing aid can sound great depending on the skill of the practitioner.  There is a definite difference in perspective and skill set between a 'hearing aid dispenser' such as the ones you find for the Miracle Ear ads, or at a Costco, and a licensed audiologist with a doctoral degree. I have had an extremely positive experience with Lori McCorrry with the Audiological Consultants of Atlanta.  She took the time to have a detailed discussion about the merits of various manufacturers and to determine my needs.  There was a lot of humor involved, and I was an interesting specimen due to my outlook on hearing loss, and the need for hearing aids -- I am culturally Deaf, married to a deaf woman with whom I communicate primarily in American Sign Language.  I told her, "I only wear hearing aids when I have to communicate with hearing people." One of the things that I wanted to determine was if going with the top of the line hearing aids would give me a substantial improvement over a new mid-line hearing aids.  The hearing test she performed helped determine that due to my intolerance for loud sounds as well as my hearing loss being all over the place, she was going to need a lot of control over the instrument to fit me exactly. Earmold impression were made, and a follow appointment was set for two weeks later.  She was solicitous about the earmolds being so deep in my ears, and kept asking if they hurt -- it was an adjustment  After inserting the hearing aids for the first time, I could hear the quality difference even with the conservative initial settings the instruments were set to.  Much to my surprise, I was able to comprehend and understand a substantial portion of the audiologist's speech without looking at her. The fitting process was quite involved, and it was really neat to see how the tools of the trade have improved.  On the screen of the computer, you can now see a near-realtime graph for each instrument what the actual output across the frequencies are, which makes adjustments much easier.  She also inserted some probes into my ears, which was a challenge with how deep the new earmolds were -- the audiometric tools have also improved dramatically, and we were able to see what the actual measured output in my ears were at various frequencies. After about an hour and fifteen minutes, we arrived at a good first pass fit.  She walked me through some of the functionality of the remote and the programs that were set up on it. When I left, I was quite pleased with the service I received. Widex Clear C4FSBR The first major change for me was that the new hearing aids are RITE (receiver in the ear), rather than BTE (behind the ear) and transmitted down a hollow tube into the mold.  I'd been using silicone earmolds for a long while, and they did not go very deeply into the canal.  It was an unusual feeling for me to have something hard and immobile reach so deeply into my ear to park the receiver next to my eardrum.  The audiologist was repeatedly asking me if it hurt.  It didn't, although it was odd to feel an unyielding pressure on my ear canal bone when my expression changed, or my jaw opened.  With my silicone earmolds, when they shift, my first reaction is to push them in -- because breaking the tight seal at the high gains that I hear things at can cause severe feedback By parking the receiver so close to my ear drum, the signal quality improves due to not having to bounce through the tubing of the old  BTE and mold combinations -- my understanding is that it improves the high frequencies especially.  There are some other cool technologies like the hearing aids able to communicate state and determine which sounds to focus on, and the Bluetooth bridge/remote. The quality of sound and the jump in speech intelligibility was a quantum leap over the older Canta 7's I had, especially when combined with the superb job that Lori had performed in fitting me.  Especially now that I am married to a deaf woman, I do not wear my hearing aids as much as I used to, and so I had de-acclimatized to the high gains of the Canta 7's -- this meant that it became bothersome to hear after a while.  I do not have this experience with these new hearing aids. My own speech quality and intelligibility has improved, as I am able to hear my own voice better -- much to my amazement, I am able to hear my wife's voice.  She is extremely soft spoken, and we do not need to speak with each other -- this is more a testament to the quality of the aids themselves. When I listen to devices via the M-DEX remote control, it is quite clear -- I am able to hear nuances of sound effects and tone in films  that I play on my computer or iPad.    These are superb hearing aids, and I cannot be more happy with them.  The only caveat is that I am going to need to go back and add a few more programs for noise management, as I am able to hear entirely too much now. M-DEX After the glowing review of my hearing aids and my audiologist, it is unfortunate that I have to be so negative about the other component in question.  The M-DEX is a piece of shit -- I am a software engineer and architect, and I have never seen such poor interface quality or assumptions about the listener. First, let's start with the good things: FreeFocus -- being able to tell the hearing aids in what direction to focus on.  This is very useful. Bluetooth pairing with iPad -- when I pair it with my iPad to watch a film, the quality is remarkable as I have noted earlier. Direct audio input - if I run a cord from my device to the M-DEX, it works well. Changing programs -- this is moderately useful, though I am able to change it directly on my hearing aids. However, these are the only positive things I can say about the M-DEX. When a Bluetooth device drops a connection, such as my iPhone or iPad doing so when not actively playing sounds, it switches to the Master program, and loudly announces it.  So the cycle happens like this:  The program on the iPhone or iPad plays, the bluetooth connection is brought up, a beep emanates from my hearing aids.  When it stops, it changes back to the Master program.  Every time this happens, this announcement is made.  Repeatedly. Further compounding this issue is that the 'room off' which mutes my hearing aids microphones turns off, and unmutes every time the bluetooth connection drops.   If I am listening to a movie, and I exit out of the film to check on something, I get the loud announcement, 'Master program', and a blast of environmental noise.  I then have to re-mute. Further compounding the unacceptable state of affairs, it does not work well as a headset or headphones.  The Widex engineers obviously did no testing or quality assurance outside of mobile phones.  It does not work at all with my Mac laptop or my Mac desktop -- when I attempt to play sounds through it, the M-DEX believes it to be a phone call for the duration of the sound effect and then disconnect.  This causes the computer to no longer play sound effects through the Bluetooth connection, as it is disconnected.  Most of the time, it does not even work -- the computer tells me that there was a Bluetooth error. The M-DEX barely works with the iPad and iPhone outside the context of a phone call -- as I have mentioned before, it works as a hands-free profile, and a headphone profile.  But it does not work as a headset with a microphone.  Skype on my iPad and iPhone is a no-go due to this -- I briefly get a connection and then it drops. The microphone quality on the M-DEX is poor -- I would have imagined that Widex with its state of the art research into microphone and signal quality, would be able to put some of this technology into the M-DEX.  This is a $350 device that is surpassed by a $10 piece of electronics. Effectively, the only way I can do phone calls with the M-DEX is as a handsfree headset for phone calls.  Which is unfortunate, as my mobile phone quality is far inferior to what I can get over VoIP which is important to me as a Deaf person.  I need every bit of call quality I can get, and this device cripples me. The user-interface is extremely poor.  I am a software engineer, and I get a little confused as to how to get to certain functionality.  How is a normal non-geek supposed to use this device? Also rage-inducing is the fact that this device only pairs with one bluetooth device at a time.  If I have it paired with my iPad and want to use it with my iPhone, I have to go through the whole pairing process.  Logitech with its cheap headsets is able to support multiple bluetooth pairings! It is obvious that the people who worked on the M-DEX have no understanding of people with hearing loss and their actual needs.  This is perhaps due to being an entirely different product and project than the hearing aids themselves which are wonderful. The following naive assumptions were made: That other devices would maintain a Bluetooth connection throughout the life of the session.  This is only true for mobile calls.  In every other context, Bluetooth connections are dropped, to conserve battery. That the user would want the program to actively change when the Bluetooth connection drops.  Again, this is only true for mobile calls.  If an user is using this device for other purposes, the user does not want to hear the loud announcement that the program has changed. That the user would only want to use Bluetooth for phones.  This shows a shocking lack of creativity, vision and initiative.  Bluetooth is much more versatile than that, and they should have expected that an user would want to use this device with their computer or to watch films on a mobile device with. That the user would not care about his own voice quality with the shoddy microphone -- sometimes, those of us that have hearing loss need every bit of clarity that can be transmitted to the other party, due to accents or inflections.  Did they actually test the microphone as a deaf person? That they do not need to put thought or effort into the user interface of the device -- the paths to some of the functionality are simplified to the point of being un-simple to use.  Any good human interface person would have spotted these issues. It is extremely unfortunate that with all the careful engineering and thought that Widex put into the hearing aid instruments, to see them fumble so severely with the M-DEX.  The whole experience is basically like getting a flawless one-hundred yard pass for the touchdown, and then suddenly fumbling and going back thirty yards. Current Mood: bitchy (9 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012
4:52 pm [ext_234020]	Changing Naida SP casings I have been trying to purchase a pair of replacement casings, in fact several pairs, for quite some time. It has been impossible to find anyone to supply me with any and I've finally had a proper reason as to why, other than "Hacked off audi who wants to sell a new hearing aid and can't be bothered". It seems that Phonak will not supply these for self-fitting because the Naida is water resistant and it might lose that property if the user changes their own casings. Now I have explained to Phonak that these hearing aids are second hand, way out of warranty, no longer in the country in which they were warranted in the first place (US only warranty), the casings have been taken off before when I was trying to find out if I could do it myself, and also I use FM boots on the hearing aids at all times, which it says all over their literature invalidates the water resistant properties. They have yet to come up with another excuse for not supplying these parts, but I bet they will. They want me to send them in for a "repair" at £139.95 - I assume per hearing aid. Smacks of nothing but profiteering to me after I have told them in writing that not only do I not care if water resistance is compromised, it is already compromised. The point of this in any case is to be able to change the casings according to my whim on the day, so having paid £139.95 to have the casings replaced I'd put them straight back in the mail to have them put on a new colour, insisting they return all the originals, and as soon as I had 3 colours available to me at home I'd change them about 3 times a week, so the idea of them putting on a special cover in their special repair lab is preposterous... as is the fee! Changing the casing on a Naida involves pushing out 4 retaining pins, putting on the new case and replacing 4 retaining pins. Good money if you can get it! Does anyone know where I could get some jazzy colours for my Naidas without Phonak saying that I, the end consumer, owner, do not have the right to compromise the non-existant warranty should I choose to do so? I want some safari, savannah and purple really, but I'm prepared to take any colours I can get my hands on that are not "discreet" colours for maximum boringness. Do I not have any rights to obtain these totally user-serviceable parts? There is no risk I could do damage to myself or anyone else by doing this, it's not like I want to work on the mains gas supply or anything that should rightly be restricted, I want to modify my own possessions in a way in which I totally understand and accept the risks... of which there are none in my case, except maybe I might lose a pin. (Comment on this)
Thursday, February 9th, 2012
10:17 am [ext_1036730]	Program My Own Widex IN-19 Looking for some help in programming my own hearing aids. I was giving some Widex Inteo IN-19 hearing aids from my uncle. After going to the audiologist for the first time and getting tested, fitted and programmed. I have concluded that he didn't do that great of a job in the programming. It was like he rushed through it and I feel I could do a better job. I think I have figured out what to do. I need a USB Hi-Pro interface. I have already download and installed Noah and the Compass 5.5 software. I'm not sure if I need Noah or not. I don't know what my options are for the programming boots without going to Widex. They won't sell them to me without an account. Dishing out $1000 for the Hi-Pro interface is expensive. I'm not sure if there is a lower cost interface. Any guidance would be appreciated. Thanks (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, January 25th, 2012
7:13 am [scruffycritter]	Something is rotten in Denmark Admit it, we've always needed a thread named this. Results are in. iCom transmits in Stereo. MDEX does not. TVDex does, but it is not meant for mobile applications. Pretty sure TVDex does not give you a microphone. Neither the iCom nor the MDEX are recognized as a USB headset when plugged into a PC. The iCom cannot pair to a 64 bit Windows based PC at all via bluetooth. The MDEX can but when done so, people on other end complain about it's microphone quality. It's fine on the cell phone though... Again they thought cellphones instead of headphones. Both the iCom and MDEX cut off if they detect no sound coming in via it's inputs. The iCom claims to have a method to get rid of this behavior. The MDEX does not. You can charge both the iCom and MDEX while in use but the MDEX gets a high pitched hum when you do (A hum?! USB voltage isn't AC! I got nothing here...) Device and Battery Life on the iCom is very bad. Range on the MDEX is worse. They blame bluetooth, but none of this behavior changes when using direct Phono input. Everything about the MDEX's shortcomings screams "We did it to conserve battery life" to me. Sadly, the real things sucking down juice are the remote control functions it duplicated from the RC-DEX. Lose that touchscreen and I bet most of the problems get solved. The thing is, the Widex Clear is just such a good hearing aid I want to keep it. What may keep me from doing so is no DAI connection. I can get around all of the above. I dont care how useless the MDEX is if I have DAI. (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, January 18th, 2012
8:19 am [scruffycritter]	Widex MDEX vs Phonak iCom I just picked up a pair of Widex hearing aids for my new dose of hearing loss. And I got an MDEX with it. It's been less than 24 hrs. Early returns are: I'm still frustrated. Just a different set of frustrations. Where it *beats* the iCom. It pairs to a PC! The iCom never ever was able to do that right. Least not one with 64 bit Windows. Phonak was singularly unhelpful when you called them for help about pulling this off. It's not perfect though. I was able to use it on Ventrillo over the MDEX. Sadly everyone on the other end of the conversation really dislikes the microphone quality, but you can do it. It also seems to cut off sometimes. Trying to figure out why. Over DAI thru the MDEX it's fine but then you need your own microphone. This is what I'm doing now. No worse than using DAI cables on the Phonak hearing aids, and these are much better hearing aids (for me anyway). It has a mode to record stuff for short term so you can play it back later to people and find out what they said. I must admit I never thought of that application in one of these devices. Kinda cool. Where it's no better than the iCom: It cuts off when the DAI to it cuts off. So you miss stuff and get notifications it's connecting (beeps for Phonak, Widex now uses a voice to tell you what's going on). This might be correctable. Finding out now. It was supposedly correctable with the iCom but I never got it to work as described. Where it's strictly worse than the iCom: Small stuff first- It's a little bulky. It's lanyard isn't an antenna so it's not quite as rangy. As a result it appears that Widex decided to introduce UI components to try to somehow wean you off of your phone once you pair it to it via bluetooth. That is once you pair it, you can answer your phone, dial your phone and maybe all sorts of other stuff via the MDEX. All I can say to this is: Guys, give it up. My phone is a better phone than the MDEX is. It always will be. Anyone's always will be. If you want to do something in this direction (and I suggest you do, it's a good idea. Just went about implementing badly): Give me an Android or iPhone app to operate the MDEX. Hire me and I'll write the Android one for you. I cannot believe I am writing this part given Widex is typically either way in front of everyone when it comes to tech, or way behind but with much better performance. IT IS NOT STEREO. To me this is a total shocker, for what keeps me going BACK to Widex hearing aids is the widex music mode. I also assume Widex either comes out with it first or comes out with it best. In this case, Phonak ate their lunch on both fronts. Phonak! The people who had a device that could do anything but didn't realize beat Widex on a feature point where Widex lives. Criminy... What's next? Microsoft running super-computers? Anyway, it's not that Stereo doesn't exist. Apparently the TV-DEX does that, but it appears to not be a portable device. So Widex implemented stereo on the device you will watch your TV with but not on the one you will plug your MP3 player into?!? I really hope that either 1) This can be fixed via software or 2) I'm just plain wrong. I dont think I am though. http://content.widexpro.com/images/famSelect/WidexDexFAQ.pdf Q: Which Dex product will I need if my patient would like to use their iPod? A: You could order the M-Dex (if you are mobile, but the transmission is monaural) or could use the TV-Dex (audio input, stereo) if listening at home/office, etc. (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, December 28th, 2011
8:33 pm [helgarhelgar]	Talk about hearing aids at 28c3 Hi! I just held the talk which I announced here earlier (http://hearingaidhacks.livejournal.com/59852.html). I mentioned you guys as well :) In case you missed it and are interested to listen to it, follow my blog http://hackandhear.com/ where I linked to the pre-released video of it. I will add subtitles as soon as I am enabled to do so. Also, I will upload my slides with detailed speaker notes in the next couple of days.  Cheers from Berlin, Helga (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, November 29th, 2011
10:22 pm [gatortpk]	Any suggestions for Bluetooth clip with DAI I'm new to this community.  Glad it's here!   I've been researching different Bluetooth Headsets with DAI.   My situation is as follows:  I have a Baha Divino aid on one side, the other side is open but nerve deaf.  The Divino has a DAI of course.  I've never used DAI, and I have had bluetooth cellphones for over a decade.  I've never gotten to use the bluetooth feature!  I now have my second iPhone, the iPhone 4S.   I would love for the first time in my life to be able to talk on the phone using my hearing aid via DAI and bluetooth.  I understand that DAI is just that, Direct Audio Interface (Audio In only, I can't use the mic on my Divino).  I would also be able to use the iPhone has an iPod and listen to music directly through my hearing aid also, that would be another first. Any suggestions on what the best Bluetooth clip-on would be?  I've looked at these links: Blue Freedom Bluetooth Headset with DAI (direct audio input) BLUEFREEDOM Free Spirit Bluetooth Headset with DAI (direct audio input) for Hearing Impaired FREESPIRIT Also, I'm annoyed by articles like this: Cochlear launches next-generation BAHA hearing aid that's iPod, Bluetooth ready I have the BAHA implant.  But this Cochlear BP100 doesn't have Bluetooth built in!  The article does mention that I can use "other lifestyle accessories such as iPods and Bluetooth adapters."  What does that mean?  Adapters like the first two links I listed above? I would love some input, or any suggestions.  Perhaps, I'm way off base and there is a much better solution out there? Thanks in advance, Tom Current Mood: thankful (Comment on this)
Monday, November 28th, 2011
8:18 pm [helgarhelgar]	Talk about hearing aid technology at the 28c3 hacker conference in Berlin Hi!   My name is Helga. I am based in Munich, Germany. I have been wearing hearing aids for about 3 years now. I am also geek and since I am affected by a hearing problem, I started to teach myself about audiology and hearing aid technology. I am especially interested in anything remotely close to hacking hearing aids.  I will give a talk at the 28c3 conference about hearing aid technology in december: http://events.ccc.de/congress/2011/Fahrplan/events/4669.en.html The XXc3 is the biggest European hacker conference and it is organized by the Chaos Computer Club Germany (http://www.ccc.de/en/). It is said to be similar to the hacking conferences like "2600 Hope" or "Defcon" in the U.S.  I have been following this live journal for a while now and it seems to be more or less the only "hearing aid hacker" forum. It is really inspiring to read from you guys! So far I have read a lot in this journal, but have not made it through all articles yet. I was wondering if you would be so kind to point me to some cool hacks of hearing aids or peripheral hardware. I would like to mention the coolest / craziest / most creative / most useful hacks in my talk (of course along with providing the source and credits.). Any suggestions? Another question that you might like to help me with: I will talk a bit about the situation of hearing-impaired patients with respect to the costs they have for hearing aids and equipment and about the service with respect to audiologists and doctors. Since I live in Germany I am more familiar with the situation here, but for giving a broader picture, I'd like to mention the situation in other parts of the world as well, especially the U.S. How do you pay for a good hearing aid in the U.S.? How much does a health insurance help you? How often do you get new hearing aids? What happens if they brake, do you have to pay for the reparation for yourself? It would be really cool if you can give me a short summary of that.  My talk will be streamed to the internet and probably recorded. If you are interested in watching it, I will be post the link to the recordinghearing aid hacking page: http://www.hackandhear.com Hope to hear from you! Cheers, Helga (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, November 20th, 2011
7:39 pm [hearbalist]	Thoughts on making hearing aids on your own. Hello there ! Have anyone here thought of making their own hearing aid from scratch ? The problem I find is that hearing aids are much more expensive then they deserve to be. Why this has to be this way seems non logical to me; since you can build a cheap amp unit that can retrieve signals from wireless source. All the processing logics could therefore be externally done on a unit that transmit to the amp unit. This way you could have cheap manufacturing of the amp units and have say 2 or 3 different types of amp designs depending on how much amp you need and what the user feels fine with. Create an open standard for the communication between the amp unit and the sound processing unit and then you can have anyone to create their own algorithms for signal processing. This could be used both for people having loss of hearing and for special needs such as sound protection etc. By having an open standard and also building the first signal processing unit to be able to be programmed in any way with usb and bluetooth interfaces and also with open standards. Then if your amp unit is powerful this would blast away any other competitor since this would be cheap and adaptable in so many ways, Ive been thinking of this for a long time and i dont get why this isnt done yet since the technology is already there to be assembled. The current hearing aids are so much less for much bigger costs. Time to start open hearing aid hardware project ? Current Mood: blank (9 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, September 23rd, 2011
6:34 pm [scruffycritter]	So what's the latest and greatest? I may be looking at new devices. Sadly it's because I've been smacked upside my right ear with a sudden onset loss (like 70db wasn't enough in the midrange, now I need 100db high end too! grrrr). I'm leaning towards Widex, but I don't want to be suckered in by the "Oooh Shiny" factor of a RITE fitting at my range being possible. Is it really workable? I'll say one thing about Widex. They are behind the curve, but when they catch up, they do it right. That's still true I hope. I want to like Phonak. Really I do. You all know what they missed on. (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, December 20th, 2010
9:24 am [scruffycritter]	Sad realizations about the iCom It's just fricking unreliable. Really. I've had 3 die on me. The last one was replaced by Phonak for free given how I had gone through two within a year. Good to hear they will do such a thing to keep their customers happy but even that one only lasted a month. It's a real pity because even if I can't get it to work as a bluetooth headset under Win7-64 (it works as headphones, which means the microphone does not function in this mode), it's still a lifechanger. I can use a cellphone easily. I can listen to Pandora Radio on my cellphone! Stereo music! I haven't had that in years. The problem is that you don't purchase an iCom. You rent it. Unless I can get an extended warranty, I can't bring myself to buy another. I'm going to look at what purchasing it via various credit cards can do for me (for a while Amex offered to double any warranty's length on items you purchased with their cards), but I can't bring myself to buy another. And I certainly won't hack into one if it's that fragile, less I void whatever guarantee of replacement I will undoubtedly need to use, so there's no hopes for me making the USB port an input method either. Shame, really. Current Mood: disappointed (11 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, November 14th, 2010
4:16 pm [leviathan54]	ICOM and Bluetooth via TV Hi Guys Is there a transmitter that one can connect to the TV that will pair to the ICOM receiver in the market? I presume this would require a 3.5mm connect as the TV does not have USB. I dont wish to use the Zoomlink as i keep this in the office (not at home) I've found this which seems o be what i would be looking for avantalk.com/products02.php?id=46 the manual says the receiver must have an A2DP profile....does ICOM have this? the other thing im unsure of is - how do you pair it? by that i  mean when paired you need to put the passcode but neither the avantalk transmitter or the icom receive seem to have a facility to type the passcode to confirm pairing?   (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, October 18th, 2010
3:15 pm [woofiegrrl]	Bluetooth on regular HA's To my dismay, I lost my Oticon Epoqs. Cannot find them anywhere. Moving on then... I bought a Vigo Pro on eBay because I thought it would connect with my Oticon Streamer. Turns out only the Vigo Pro Connect does that. Whoops... So now I am wondering, how can I regain my Bluetooth capabilities that I had with the Epoqs? I know the Streamer is useless, for the most part. I have seen the Starkey ELI but it seems to be unavailable - I guess they stopped making it? I've heard that Phonak makes something called the SmartLink, but I assume that's only for Phonak HA's. Any tips for getting Bluetooth back? I did just discover I can use my phone as a phone through the car radio, which I can crank up to a nice volume, but that only helps me when I'm in the car! Advice would be most welcome. BTW, I don't need it to be binaural like it was - just having anything will be nice. :) (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, October 11th, 2010
10:55 pm [scruffycritter]	[iCom] I'm more than a little tired of this... I'm going to redact the rant about how my iCom died twice both times just outside of the 1yr and 6mos warranty periods. And I won't bother linking to all the examples of how this forum is full of people complaining how their iComs die so frequently and how Phonak really ought to do something about it.. But my audiologist got them to fix it for free this time. So a shout out to my Audi... So I have it back. But I cannot for the life of me get this thing paired and working properly with a PC. Not before. Not now. Not ever. This latest version on a Windows 7-64bit machine with a Dell 370 BT card in it, upon installation, it cannot find the "Bluetooth Peripheral Driver". My old one I did get paired, but I never ever had the microphone working with it. And I'd bet a serious amount of change that it's not the PC end with the issues. Why am I so sure? Because, the iCom works flawlessly with cell phones. It's tried, true, and tested. When it comes to the Bluetooth Profile to make it work as a communication device (whichever one that is), they made sure it worked. I've had it paired to many different phones and it always works like a champ on a phone call. But with the Stereo Headset Profile, not so much. How do I know this? Because when I pull up the Pandora Radio client on the same Droid X I make phone calls from, it sounds comically bad. Again, it's awesome when you make a call from a smartphone, but sucks horribly when used in a non-phone application....ALL DONE WITH THE SAME PHONE. Clearly the device is not the question when youre trying it on one device and finding such radically different performance levels. And one you try this with other devices to see what works and what doesn't, youre left with the inescapeable conclusion as to where the problem lies. So bad is it as a stereo headset, I cannot believe they would have let a Phonak nameplate get put on it had they heard how use of the stereo headset profile sounded to the user. They would have been better off claiming this type of use wasn't supported rather than make it try to do it and fail so badly. Really, it's that bad. Like trying to tell a ghost story at a construction site bad. I can't believe anyone would be so soulless to have known and not cared just to make a buck. Okay I can believe it. I just choose to *not* believe it for the time being. I'm assuming Phonak doesn't know about it. I'm going to be trying to englighten them on the subject over the coming weeks. Wish me luck. EDIT: I since have gotten it working with the Droid. It's a little wonky about how you connect it, but if you know the trick it works great (resetting bluetooth on the Droid fixes it) but no joy in pairing it to a the PC at all. It connects to my wif's Dell XPS M1710 running XP with a 355 BT card (again without the microphone working), but not to mine (Alienware M17x [also a Dell] with a Dell 370 card -- I suspect because it's a 64 bit OS. (12 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, September 13th, 2010
6:10 pm [karoooszka]	iCube Does anybody have a reliable source for obtaining an iCube? I have Phonak Mini IX's and am tired of making the appointments, trips, etc. etc. to the audi for broad stroke adjustments. I have an iCom, I don't know if there's a way to hack that to use as an iCube. (8 Comments |Comment on this)