4 ms·
Every single chip function cited here is available in any given wearable/hearable chipset, many of which are available in consumer products that cost less than
by cushychicken 7y ago
Every single chip function cited here is available in any given wearable/hearable chipset, many of which are available in consumer products that cost less than $100. Economies of scale suggest that the price of the actual chip that does all that is less than $10. Personal experience suggests it's likely less than $5 - maybe even less than $2 in large quantities.
A big part of why hearing aids haven't faced much disruption, as I understand it, is their qualification as a medical device. A major competitor of my current employer had a policy of many years that they would not do hearing aids, in spite of extensive audio and audio processing experience internally. The reason? Amar Bose wanted nothing to do with medical device certifications.
- epmaybe 7y agoSo what you're saying is that if someone put in the effort to get through device certifications they could disrupt a rather profitable market. I feel like it would be relatively easy to get approval with a 510k (basically saying your device is similar to a pre existing device)
- cushychicken 7y agoYeah, I suppose I am. Easier said than done, though.
- jdietrich 7y ago>Every single chip function cited here is available in any given wearable/hearable chipset All but one - low power. A typical pair of true wireless headphones runs for three hours on a charge; a typical hearing aid runs for a week on a zinc-air cell. Any Turing-complete processor will do whatever kind of DSP you need it to do, but the trick is doing it incredibly efficiently.
- cushychicken 7y ago>All but one - low power Even that part is becoming less true. I've seen multiple datasheets in the last year that promise worst case FFT/IFFT performance at 2mA. Measured performance has been less than a quarter of thst.