Apple Plans Hearing Aid Social Networking

theodp writes "Apple may have killed off Ping, its attempt at a music social network, but the USPTO on Thursday disclosed that Apple has patent-pending plans for a hearing aid-based social network. So, if Apple's granted patents covering its Social Network for Sharing a Hearing Aid Setting and method of Remotely Updating a Hearing Aid Profile, will it use them to 'go thermonuclear' on Google when the search giant gets around to improving its current offerings for the hard of hearing?"

Comments

Remote updating of devices on your person?

[feedayeen]

Why would people share hearing aid settings with others? Isn't this the type of device set by the operator's preferences?

Having a short range communication between hearing aids and external devices has advantages in calibration, but I just don't get the social part.

Re:Remote updating of devices on your person?

[SilenceBE]

The only "social" part is - by reading the article - that people are able to share settings.

The problem is that this summary is written by an idiot it seems - is this the infamous timothy which I seems some comments of now an then ? - and has nothing really to do with Google or even a social network in the typical sense when we speak about "social networks".

The person written this summary has really mental problems as it seems he wants to abuse people with hearing disabilities to spread FUD about a scenario which really don't make any sense if I read the article. I don't even know what is has to do with subtitles on youtube.

Re:Remote updating of devices on your person?

[Hentes]

Freemium hearing aids: you get it for free but it will whisper ads it downloads from the net in your ears constantly.

Re:Remote updating of devices on your person?

[Anonymous Coward]

I use my hearing aids in loop systems on a weekly basis at different churches. All of them have different levels on the loop system requiring me to turn the levels up and down on my hearing aids, since most of them aren't set to the (British) government standards (and of course, the output from different mixing desks are different). It would be great if there was a network to give me a baseline for the setup of the system that would work reliably, since hearing aid loops ARE set to the baseline.

Re:Remote updating of devices on your person?

[only_human]

Next will be the patents on recreational drinking: 95% of your social network prefer to drink beer while watching sunsets but drink wine at candlelit dinners. Are you sure your drinking parameters are correct?

Re:Remote updating of devices on your person?

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, stop with your relevant and insightful commentary, will you?

These comments are for paranoid, delusional rambling about how Apple is evil and Google can never, ever, ever do wrong.

Anything that does not confirm that bias, or which seeks to point out the fact that this has nothing to do with "Apple going nuclear on Google," or that there is actually a USEFUL application for this functionality, is immediately going to be modded flamebait.

Re:Remote updating of devices on your person?

[transporter_ii]

Leela: Didn't you have ads in the 21st century?"
Fry: Well sure, but not in our dreams. Only on TV and radio, and in magazines, and movies, and at ball games, and whispered in our ears... and on buses and milk cartons and t-shirts, and bananas and written on the sky. But not in dreams, no siree.

Brilliant move!

[Grayhand]

I knew they had a for after their earbuds made everyone prematurely deaf.

Leave my Hearing Aids Alone

[StueyNZ]

Dear Apple, I paid a bucket of money for my hearing aids - in excess of NZ$7000 - please leave the damn things alone. If I need to tune them with wizzy settings, I will let the professionals who know what they're doing do it. PS. If I want to join a social network for sharing hearing aid settings - I'll join the 'Patents Killed by Prior Art network' on facebook.

Re:Leave my Hearing Aids Alone

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually Apple has revolutionized many medical devices. Electronic devices for assisted communication used to cost thousands of dollars had horrible interfaces and were hardly portable. Then apple released the iPad and a lot changed.

Re:Leave my Hearing Aids Alone

[neBelcnU]

I've also paid a fortune for my hearing aids, 100% of my own funds because health insurance in the US doesn't cover any hearing-related expenses beyond the most basic testing.

With that in mind, I do NOT want the "professionals" touching my hearing aids. Having watched them repeatedly, I'm certain that I can do a better job--even with Siemens' cripple-ware. In fact, there are a number of hacks I think would be really impressive: The software packages the 4 settings by default in a manner that requires 3x the button-pushes should they be arrayed in simple "loudness order". Or this one: the feedback defaults to a series of beeps: 1 per setting position, 1 beep=1st setting, 2=2nd, etc. There's an option to set the tone to one of 4 different frequencies, so in my first visit, I figured out we should select ever higher tones for the counts. (1=lowest/least, 4=highest/most) The "professional" was so astonished by the usability improvement of this, he was going to apply it to other customers.

Oh, and see what I did there? I just socially-shared a trick that others may find helpful." I know it's a licensed job, they're not idiots, and they do have skills, but they do not wear hearing aids. I cannot stress that last enough, every "professional" I've seen all have perfect hearing. They may understand the physiology better, but they do not understand the electronics, psychoacoustics, or the limitations better than I do.

Run the tests, start up the app, and head out for lunch, I'll take it from here. And you bet your sweet bippy I'm going to publish MY settings, and compare notes with other users. If you don't want to, fine, don't. But I'll pay to get out of the highest walled-garden in the world.

Re:Leave my Hearing Aids Alone

[compwizrd]

I've got a set of Siemens Centra SP's... and yes, their programming software is just horrid... unstable and VERY slow. The multiple beeps to set programs bugs me too, as by the time you go through program 3, it's taking about a second and a half to beep at me. The only reason that makes any sense would be for people who can't distinguish tone levels very well? I did get them to set the lowest frequency possible, the default was stupidly high pitched.

For my hearing aids, I have the first program set to almost no noise cancel, it works best for music for me.. second program has the highest noise cancel it will do, this is my speech program, and third is for telecoil.. mine only has a 4th and 5th program if i have the audio boots.. They mean to tell me in 2006 NVRam was still too expensive to store a dozen programs customized to what I want???

They rely too much on "here's the audiogram, here's what the software says it should be set to for levels".. but never "you grew up missing the high frequencies, so having a bit heavier bass than what the machine says would beneficial so it sounds more natural"..

Location-based settings

[MemoryAid]

I can see where it may be helpful to crowd-source settings at certain locations. Maybe the noise profile at a pub responds best to a certain setup for most people, but you don't want to twiddle with your hearing aid until you figure it out. A statistical analysis of others' settings, along with some rating of satisfaction with them, could help adjust a hearing aid more quickly.

I'm sure Apple could come up with an easy interface on the iPhone to quickly adjust, rate and share settings. Maybe even store some info about each person's hearing loss profile to better match people with settings...

Of course, I haven't read the article yet, so this could be redundant.

Re:Location-based settings

[Anonymous Coward]

Or, since many public facilities often offer induction loop capabilities for users with telecoil-equipped hearing aids, but the induction loop settings can vary wildly, it'd be nice to be able to see what settings other people at that location are using (or have used) to quickly and easily calibrate your own settings to work best with the loop.

I'd rather have some "informed advice" to start with, instead of blowing out my eardrums because somebody calibrated an induction loop wrong.

delay

[Anonymous Coward]

the problem is accumulated delay. That is the time between presentation of the signal to its final output into the hearing aids' speakers. If only Bluetooth is involved then the delay is bearable, but if it requires another type of signal conversion, ala the Rexton or Bernafon type remote control / convertor then the delay becomes very noticeable and unacceptable. I have the Rexton aids and I can't use them as on stage monitors because of the delay. The real problem is the power consumption of a BT receiver /transmitter in the haring aids- it eats power quick and results in a quick fail when the power drops too low.

My guess is that Apple may have a way to put a power efficient BT device in a hearing aid - I really hope so. I have had a loss for years, have been programming my own aids through four models, and, by and large, most audiologists are way undertrained, especially when it comes to real world, as in live music, fidelity in hearing aids.. And hearing aid companies with the exception of Bernafon, ignore the needs of hard of hearing music lovers and musicians. And I speak from bitter experience.

Breaking the Hearing Aid Oligarchy

[Anonymous Coward]

In the U.S., the many hearing aid brands are manufactured by a tiny number of original equipment manufacturers (OEM) who control patents and technology. The remaining OEM's have bought up smaller competitors and their patent rights. For the most part, hearing aids are sold through branded stores or via distribution to audiologists and hearing specialists. The retail markups are ridiculously high, so that many pay $2,000 - $5,000 or more for a device far simpler in design than most any comparable consumer electronic device. To add even simple improvements (Bluetooth, coatings for moisture resistance, multiple profiles for sound equalization, more sophisticated feedback protection, rechargeable batteries) adds hundreds or thousands to the retail price.

If Apple or other major electronics suppliers can simplify and improve hearing aid technology, then bravo. My state-of-the-art aids are often flummoxed in large public spaces with complicated acoustics. If a crowd-sourced sound pattern would allow me to hear better, you bet I'd take advantage of it. But the real benefit for the long-term might be in standardization of hearing aid interfaces and protocols so that over time prices might come down. The overwhelming majority of hearing impaired people world wide have no access to aids. Apple and others may be able to bring better hearing technology to the masses.

This is alarming news

[mykro76]

Apple's design concepts revolve around a simple experience for the 80%, and accessibility support for the 20% has historically been a long time in coming. It took 3 years for captioning to arrive on their Apple TV platform, and the iPhone didn't get accessibility features until its third iteration. I can and have recommended Apple products to others, but for this reason I am unable to use them myself.

I cannot think of a worse company to have a lock up on accessibility-related patents :(

Re:Meta-Reminder

[PopeRatzo]

Unless you were intending to target 6th graders with your campaign. In that case, carry on with the bludgeon tactics.

I'm in this for the long haul. Of course I'm targeting the 6th graders.

And still, I will bet that it will influence a significant number of current Apple users, who are decent people and would be sick, just sick, if they were made aware of uncool Apple products have become thanks to the execrable behavior of the Apple Corporation.