Found this funny video on YouTube. Will your hearing aid blend?

A company called Neuromonics believes it has developed an audio device that can treat people suffering from ringing in the ears, known as tinnitus. Using an audio player that over time changes the way it plays music and accompanying sounds, the firm already offers its service in number of clinics, reports today’s Wall Street Journal:

For the first two months, the music mix includes a noise, which some describe as water in a shower, to cover the tinnitus. In the third month, the shower sound is removed and patients are instructed to turn up the music just loud enough so the tinnitus is audible only during the quiet parts. The idea is the brain will be gradually trained to ignore the tinnitus. After six months, patients use the device as needed.Cost, which includes the initial fitting and counseling on tinnitus management, ranges from $3,500 to $6,000 for the six-month treatment. It isn’t generally covered by insurance.

The FDA approved the use of the device in 2005, and the company published its own study findings as to the effectiveness, but there is yet to be an independent assessment from a third party.

The Neuronomic’s product page. Seen on MedGadget.

The most popular entries from the last couple of months:

I didn’t hear you, can you repeat that?

Pardon? Say what? Come again? Say that again? Eh? Can you repeat that? Sorry? You what? Aye? I missed that? Hmm?
It doesn’t matter how you say it, they all mean the same thing: you didn’t hear what was just said.
Read it! >>

Do you have a hearing problem?

Most hearing loss occurs gradually, so the symptoms are often difficult to recognise. It may take something specific for you to realise that your hearing has deteriorated, such as a someone telling you that they think you have a problem….

How do the deaf think?

There is this one question that people ask me when they grow comfortable enough around me. That question: “You know how hearing people usually say they have a little voice in their head when they think? How about you? How do you think?”
Read it! >>

The future of hearing aids

A not always completely serious look at the technology that might, or might not, be available for hearing aid users in the future…..
Read it! >>

Hal Hen Super Dri Aid

Hal Hen is an (oddly named) company that supplies many different types of hearing products. Their Super Dri Aid^TM and Mini Super Dri Aid^TM are dehumidifiers for your hearing aid.
Read it! >>

Great article on InventorSpot about Phonak’s new range of hearing aids… sorry, Phonak’s new range of Personal Communication Aids. You can take a look at the latest Phonak hearing aids here.

They talk about Phonak’s new marketing stance. They also write about people’s perception of hearing aid wearers and how it differs from spectacle wearers.

“Phonak’s marketing is right on. When you visit Phonak’s websites, you feel like you’re buying a Lexus, not a hearing aid. The models have names like Audéo, Salia, Una, and Valea… The Audéo comes in 15 two-toned color combinations with names like Antique Mahogany, Solar Flare, Lunar Eclipse, and Pinot Noir. Don’t you want to take one for a spin?”

The full Phonak article on InventorSpot.

It’s always encouraging to learn of progress in technologies that help the hard of hearing. This report of studies into Infrared being used in cochlear implants comes from The Newswebsite:

Researchers at Northwestern University in Chicago have made a new discovery that could lead to better cochlear implants for deaf people. They have found that infrared light can stimulate neurons in the inner ear as precise as sound waves, reports New Scientist magazine.

A healthy inner ear uses hair cells that respond to sound to stimulate neurons that send signals to the brain. However, hair cells can be destroyed by disease or injury, or can contain defects at birth, leading to deafness. In such cases, cochlear implants can directly stimulate neurons.

The hearing provided by implants is good enough to enable deaf children to develop speech skills that are remarkably similar to children with hearing abilities.

However, implant users still find it tough to appreciate music, communicate in a noisy environment and understand tonal languages like Mandarin because the implants use about 20 or so electrodes, a small number compared to the 3000-odd hair cells in a healthy ear.

More sources of stimulation should make hearing clearer but more electrodes cannot be packed in because tissue conducts electricity, so signals from different electrodes would interfere.

On the contrary, laser light targets nerves more precisely and doesn’t spread, which could allow an implant to transmit more information to the neurons.

In order to explore that idea, a research team led by Claus-Peter Richter at Northwestern University in Chicago shone infrared light directly onto the neurons in the inner ear of deaf guinea pigs.

At the same time, the researchers recorded electrical activity in the inferior colliculus, a relay between the inner ear and the brain cortex, producing a set of frequency “maps”.

These maps are a good indication of the quality of sound information sent to the brain.

Richter said that electrical stimulation of the inner ear by a cochlear implant produces blurred maps, but the light stimulation produced maps that were as sharp as those produced by sound in hearing guinea pigs.

While it’s a mystery how light stimulates the neurons, as they do not contain light-sensitive proteins, Richter hypothesizes the heat that accompanies the light may play a role, and his team is now investigating the long-term effects of heating neurons.

Hearing aid vendors supply both a product (the aid) and a service (fitting, maintenance, etc). To my mind, these are two completely separate things.

I’m writing about this because I popped into my local Scrivens branch last weekend – I was waiting for my Wife and just happened to notice the “Hearing Care” sign in their window – to ask for a price list. I knew from previous experiences with other suppliers that it was unlikely that they’d have a price list and sure enough, the answer to my request was, “We suggest you book an appointment with the audiologist for an assessment as everyone’s needs are different”. I said that I knew which aids I wanted and was trying to find where I could get them cheapest – still, I would have to see the audiologist.

Scrivens are selling products, I know which one I want, so why can’t they tell me the price at which I can buy it? I can understand that “everyone’s needs are different” but if Scrivens sell 10 Oticon Epoch hearing aids to different people they are still selling the same product – the only difference being the programming for the individual’s hearing loss. To drive that point home, Scrivens also sell glasses – the glasses are all laid out in the store with prices on the frames and a list of lense types. Why do hearing aids have to be different? Are the vendors scared of their own inflated prices?

To go back to the original point – vendors are offering a service and a product. It should be possible to pay for either of these separately. I should be able to pick up a pair of Epochs if I want them and get them programmed somewhere else. Of course, many customers may not be aware that if they buy a hearing aid it will need to be programmed to their individual loss – and it’s right that vendors make people aware of this BUT that should not stop people being able to purchase an aid only if they so wish.

I’d love to see some transparent pricing on the high-street this year. I think Specsavers are starting to get the idea – let’s hope everyone else will follow.

I still don’t know the price for a pair of Epochs!

The Guardian’s website has an excellent interview with Liz Ball, a deaf-blind charity worker. Liz was born partially sighted and registered as blind at the age of 10. She lost her hearing when she was 26. She’s now 30 and works for the Sense charity as their parliamentary campaigns officer.

She talks warmly about the things she enjoys but also of some of the frustrations and problems she faces.

She says:

It would be very good if more people were aware that a red and white cane means the person using it is deaf-blind. And that their attention is best got by touching their shoulder.

–>The Guardian’s article

Las Tunas, Cuba, Jan 16 (CNA) Professionals at a special school in Cuba have created what they think is the first digital dictionary of the island’s sign language, which could contribute to the culture and identity of deaf children.

Beatriz Cespedes and Eliazar Rodriguez, an interpreter and a computer science teacher at the Pelayo Paneque High School, in the eastern Cuban city of Las Tunas, were successful in creating the multimedia resource that uses a system of signs as a natural language for the hearing impaired.

After 14 years of experience with people suffering from deafness, and after consulting a host of references from various parts of the world, the educators devised the tool to help the deaf understand the meaning of words in Spanish and the structure of that language.

With the collaboration of Eliazar, they created a web page that —through pictures, videotapes, drawings and texts— provides definitions, different meanings, etymology, synonyms and other particularities about 1,500 words selected from the Cuban Sign Language Program (LSC).

According to specialists, the LSC-Spanish dictionary will be of great practical utility as much in the classroom as in independent work by students. It also promises to constitute an effective instrument in hands of family members of the deaf to contribute to cultural identity and the social integration of hearing impaired children. Since 1994, the Ministry of Education and the National Association of the Deaf of Cuba have approved the application of the Cuban Sign Language within and outside the classroom because it contributes to the educational process and to guaranteeing the rights of non-hearing people.

Original article

Something unusual happened in the office last week: I had a conversation with several people about my hearing problems and the aids that I wear.

I’ve never been one to hide my hearing aids, they are there for everyone to see, but I’ve never really talked about them with anyone. Possibly people just weren’t interested or they felt they couldn’t mention them.

Anyway, last week, we were talking about CSI – one of the episodes in which Grissom is suffering from a hearing problem. We looked Grissom up on Wikipedia and found out that he suffered from otosclerosis and someone asked me if that was what I had. I told them about my sensorineural loss and a bit about the problems I have with background noise and localisation and so on.

And the cool thing was: everyone was really interested – it was like they’d been itching to ask but hadn’t dared or found the opportunity to do so.

And now I feel more relaxed about not hearing someone in the office or asking them to repeat themselves. Now that I’ve actually spoken to people I know for sure that they are aware of my problem and they know what’s up if I seem to be ignoring them, talking over them or misunderstanding them. As I’ve already said, I never hide my hearing aids and I rarely have a problem with asking people to repeat themselves but knowing for sure that other people know has made the situation a whole lot easier to deal with.

How do you let other people know about your hearing problem? Do you hide it? Wait for them to notice your aids or do you let it be know as soon as possible?

This text is from an old old article on Gizmondo:

I was in a hallway with two young ladies once. We smiled and chatted and stuff as we walked. In front of their apartment, one of them asked me something that I didn’t understand. It sounded like “Wannakwam mwin”. I said “Sorry?” “Mwahnnakwam mwin?” Not wanting to look like a tard, I just smiled and said “Yeah…”

Then, after a brief silence, “Ok, well, bye now!” They looked at each other funny, and said bye akwardly. As I was walking to my place, it hit me like a ton of bricks: they had said “Wanna come in?” And like an idiot, I said yes… and then walked off! Shame like this has no name.

Now, I’m not deaf or anything, but whenever the Goldfish hearing aid comes to market, I will be the first one to buy it. Part of the recent –>“Hearwear – The Future of Hearing” exhibition, it’s an in-ear device that replays the last ten seconds of conversation for you, in case you missed it. It’s inspired by the Goldfish’s reputedly very short, short-memory span, though if you ask me, it should have been named The David… after me.

The thing that really struck me about this is that the poster wrote that he “didn’t want to look like a tard…” – he didn’t want to look stupid so he just smiled and said “yeah”. And the result? He ended up looking far more stupid than if he’d just asked them to repeat it again.

I know that it can be difficult to ask someone to repeat themselves – I’ve written about this before – but at least it would have saved him from saying something stupid when he tried to bluff it.