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