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Pinhead-Sized Implant Could Replace Hearing Aids
An anonymous reader writes "Depending on the level of hearing impairment, conventional aids may not be good enough and a hearing implant is the only option. Until now the required surgery to fit them has taken several hours. However, that is about to change. A new implant that can be fitted with outpatient surgery has been developed consisting of a 1.2mm electro-acoustic transducer, which is positioned at the so-called 'round window,' which is where the middle and inner ear connect. It then produces amplified mechanical vibrations that stimulate the auditory nerve. Even though the transducer is tiny, it can reach volumes of up to 120 decibels."
This thing vs regular hearing aid:
1) battery? Either the battery has to last 10 years or you have to be able to replace it.
2) amplification curve? Hearing loss typically has different attenuation at different frequencies, so modern aids amplify different frequencies differently, and some even shift the frequencies around.
3) programming? Okay, if it just makes things louder, it doesn't need to be programmed but typically you need to have some way to adjust the configuration of the aid, and if it is installed way way up, getting the programming into it will also be a giant pain.
But whatever. We'll have fusion sometime in the next 10 years too. Cold fusion probably.
captcha: decibel (didn't accept dB, sadly)
Why hasn't China flooded the market with cheap, high quality hearing aids yet?
For the same reason they haven't flooded any technology market with cheap, high quality goods. Because that is not their stong-point. Cheap, questionable quality (possibly toxic) hearing aids would be their market.
Of course you won't be able to have a Chinese hearing aid if you work for the US Government or want to maintain a US security clearance.
That group of bovine standing over there appears quite portentous. That's right it's an ominous cow herd.
It is capable of producing sounds up to 120 dB (assuming they meant dB SPL, or equivalent). This is not the same as 120 dB of amplification. (This is why those pesky letters SPL matter, and I'm surprised a Faunhofer report wasn't explicit). Of course, then the device could potentially detect a 0 dB SPL sound and amplify it to 120 dB, but that's really no different than any current technology, and it won't, and doesn't, happen.
So no, I have not seen anyone who wears hearing aids or cochlear implants scream and rip off their hearing aids or transmitters due to obscene amplification. Yes, I know plenty users of both (mostly young though).
Lastly, patients probably will have an off switch, and will also be able to take off the transmitters just like a CI user can.
They may not be 100% but they are something. Permanent silence vs being able to understand your family and friends or even your children again? I'll take some gray pads and disappointment with music.
I had a friend who lost his hearing and after 4 years of silence and one suicide attempt he had cochlear implants put in. Immediately after, his depression almost completely cleared and he was literally a different person. There are varying degrees at which implants do not make sense, also. For instance, my wife is deaf in one ear but to her, being able to hear in the one is enough (even though she can't tell where sounds are coming from or hear surround sound - I mess with her all the time of course) and she doesn't want an implant because of the specific reasons you quoted.
All in all, if you are completely deaf I think any hearing is better than no hearing. I wonder though...Beethoven was deaf and he composed some of the most incredible classical pieces of all time...if he had this technology available at the time, would he have given up on his musical talents because his pieces didn't sound the same anymore? I tend to think not but who knows.