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

Deaf glasses

[Kangburra]

First of all, yes I am deaf.

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

[SachiCALaw]

I was never a trial lawyer so I can't comment on juries. It had little to do with my hearing, and a lot on my skills - I discovered early on that I was utterly incompetent at asking questions. I was very good at writing legal briefs and then arguing them in front of judges. So I specialized in appeals.

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 themselves if I don't understand a question. The judges are usually old and hard of hearing themselves, so they understand! I never learned sign language, although some deaf attorneys use sign language interpreters in the courtroom. 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, because the court stenographer is taking down the proceedings anyway, and since everything is all wired together anyway, that transcript can be sent directly to the deaf attorney's computer screen so he or she can follow along. There are other ways of helping hard-of-hearing attorneys as well.

Re:The "big secret" is simply directional micropho

[courtarro]

Rather than an independent "directional mic" in each ear, these glasses determine the origin of sounds based on timing, which is what the ears do in general. If a sound hits both ears at the same time, it's probably coming from directly in front of or directly behind the listener. If the array of hearing aids amplify only in-phase sounds, it will help to eliminate sounds that come from places other than where the user is looking. However, in order for all these microphones to coordinate, they must be able to communicate in some way, and a wire running through a pair of fake (or real) glasses is a good way to do that without looking strange. Thus, the glasses are just a transport mechanism.

That means the glasses (and TFA) make sense. However, like your first point, the /. article summary and title do not. But since when did the editors actually edit?