3 ms·

One can buy complex hearing instrument silicon now for $60 per ear quantity one. Dual mic, echo cancellation, equalization, noise cancellation, bluetooth, tele

One can buy complex hearing instrument silicon now for $60 per ear quantity one. Dual mic, echo cancellation, equalization, noise cancellation, bluetooth, telecoil, etc. There is no excuse.

zie 9y ago
where?
- LX8DvZFL 9y ago
  A quality Bluetooth headset covers all of those requirements except for Telecoil.
AstralStorm 9y ago
That runs a few days and does not sound terrible? See, one balanced armature transducer will cost you about this much. Electronics is not the problem, power requirements and miniature size are. In a hearing aid, the main power cost is the transducers (including MEMS microphones) and amplifiers. BA transducers are so expensive because only 3 companies make them. (Knowles, Sonion and one other I do not remember off the top of head.) Only a few more make MEMS microphones. This is also on the verge or actually nanotechnology which is why Chinese manufacturers couldn't get in. Trying to use a dynamic driver or microphone instead will cost you about half of battery life and will be larger.
- makapuf 9y ago
  I dont known anything, but a Knowles MEMS microphone on digikey is $1 qty 1 [0]. A few 100 uA consumption. I'm pretty sure there is space for disruption here. [0] : https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/knowles/SPW2430HR5H-B/423-1394-1-ND/5052772 https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/knowles/SPW2430HR5...
  - AstralStorm 9y ago
    Yes, MEMS microphones of ok quality are a few dollars but you need a few or an array (worse quality ones are cheaper), balanced armature of good quality are not cheap. This one has really bad SNR (-42 dB) The space requires micromechanical research and manufacturing expertise. Good luck "disrupting" it.
  - blattimwind 9y ago
    - Does not work with the available voltage - Far too big - Requires about 1/3 of the entire power budget > I'm pretty sure there is space for disruption here. [hackernews noises]
- criddell 9y ago
  > That runs a few days and does not sound terrible? If they are 1/10th the cost, then the number of people that could benefit goes up tremendously. I'm sure lots of people would accept having two sets that they have to charge every night if the alternative is not having any.
SiliconAlley 9y ago
Just to add to this - it is true. I have researched this subject incidentally many months ago. ON Semiconductor is one of the more relevant companies in this domain. They are a public company with a market cap of $8.5B. You can look at their Ezairo series of system-on-chip products - they are built for digital hearing aids (with all consideration of power requirements, DSP/programmability etc).

One can buy complex hearing instrument silicon now for $60 per ear quantity one. Dual mic, echo cancellation, equalization, noise cancellation, bluetooth, telecoil, etc. There is no excuse.

zie 9y ago

where?

LX8DvZFL 9y ago
A quality Bluetooth headset covers all of those requirements except for Telecoil.

AstralStorm 9y ago

That runs a few days and does not sound terrible? See, one balanced armature transducer will cost you about this much. Electronics is not the problem, power requirements and miniature size are. In a hearing aid, the main power cost is the transducers (including MEMS microphones) and amplifiers. BA transducers are so expensive because only 3 companies make them. (Knowles, Sonion and one other I do not remember off the top of head.) Only a few more make MEMS microphones. This is also on the verge or actually nanotechnology which is why Chinese manufacturers couldn't get in. Trying to use a dynamic driver or microphone instead will cost you about half of battery life and will be larger.

makapuf 9y ago
I dont known anything, but a Knowles MEMS microphone on digikey is $1 qty 1 [0]. A few 100 uA consumption. I'm pretty sure there is space for disruption here. [0] : https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/knowles/SPW2430HR5H-B/423-1394-1-ND/5052772 https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/knowles/SPW2430HR5...
- AstralStorm 9y ago
  Yes, MEMS microphones of ok quality are a few dollars but you need a few or an array (worse quality ones are cheaper), balanced armature of good quality are not cheap. This one has really bad SNR (-42 dB) The space requires micromechanical research and manufacturing expertise. Good luck "disrupting" it.
- blattimwind 9y ago
  - Does not work with the available voltage - Far too big - Requires about 1/3 of the entire power budget > I'm pretty sure there is space for disruption here. [hackernews noises]
criddell 9y ago
> That runs a few days and does not sound terrible? If they are 1/10th the cost, then the number of people that could benefit goes up tremendously. I'm sure lots of people would accept having two sets that they have to charge every night if the alternative is not having any.

SiliconAlley 9y ago

Just to add to this - it is true. I have researched this subject incidentally many months ago. ON Semiconductor is one of the more relevant companies in this domain. They are a public company with a market cap of $8.5B. You can look at their Ezairo series of system-on-chip products - they are built for digital hearing aids (with all consideration of power requirements, DSP/programmability etc).