Improve Your Hearing With Vision

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."

Comments

The "big secret" is simply directional microphones

[SachiCALaw]

If you read TFA, the way the "glasses" work has nothing to do with seeing. The manufacturer puts four microphones in each sidepiece of the glasses, tuned so that they focus more on sound to the front of the wearer instead of sound to the sides or the back. I'm very hard of hearing (I had meningitis as little kid) and used hearing aids for years. Many of the behind-the-ear hearing aids have directional mikes already. I'm not sure how much this gadget would help; perhaps with the multiple mikes it could offer more signals to play with.

Re:Deaf glasses

[The Snowman]

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.

This isn't new

[mcspoo]

What's new about this? Hearing aids have been embedded in glasses for years. The first time I got hearing aids (about 4 or 5 years old) they tried to sell hearing aids that were embedded in the thick, 50's style glasses, which is essentially what they're pushing here. That was 30 years ago. Sorry. This isn't remotely news, or even high tech. You insentive clod! I am deaf. "Hearing impaired" is an offensive term :)

Re:Traditional Hearing Aids

[hankwang]

My vision already sucks, I know when I get older my hearing will probably follow.

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 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.