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There's something very Her-esque (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1798709/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1798709/) over the AirPods, at least when they were first r

There's something very Her-esque (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1798709/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1798709/) over the AirPods, at least when they were first released. There's something futuristic but also realistic about it. Can't really put my finger on it. One of the features that I feel is glossed over very quickly is Live Listen[0], especially for an article about it being "a platform". For those that have family members with hearing loss they are a godsend in noisy environments like a cafe. Just put an iPhone with tons of processing power and an array of microphones on the table and let it filter out most of the noise and send it to the AirPods with impressive low latency. It's truly amazing, if you have AirPods and an iPhone you should try it. They outperform more professional solutions by miles. I have only tried it with AirPods, but I can only imagine how well it works with proper hearing aids that are tuned to the frequency range. I wish they'd make an audio loop "bridge" of some sort for Live Listen, as hearing aids are expensive and available technology from government usually lags behind 10+ years. [0] https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT209082 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT209082

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
boudin 7y ago
The whole point of hearing aids is to be easily forgotten and to last a day without the need to charge. I'm quite sure that with a good computer, profesionnal microphones and some good headphones with a jack you'll have a better solution with lower latency than an iphone and airpods, but that misses the point of hearing aids
- hombre_fatal 7y ago
  My father doesn't even use his $1000+ hearing aids because he says they just amplify everything and don't help. If Airpods + an iPhone on the table can help him out, like making table conversation more accessible, that would be a big deal. I'll have to look into it. The point of Airpods + iPhone here is that they are still highly portable, people today already carry both around just for fun. Your desktop PC + mic setup is not.
  - jjeaff 7y ago
    That's not the way high end hearing aids are supposed to work, at all. You can buy $20 off the shelf hearing aids that just amplify everything. Although $1,000 is not quite what high end hearing aids usually go for. I usually see prices closer to $3000+.
- vegardx 7y ago
  The whole point of hearing aids is to hear better. That they last a few days on a single battery or charge is a nice addition. And probably, a a whole sleuth of gear and cables can probably provide better quality, but it's not something you can easily bring with you to a cafe. Or use, because it would be a mess to set up when you need it. When I say low latency I mean truly low latency. It's at the level where your brain easily tunes it out. Comparable to using cables. Remember, transmitting data over RF can be very low latency, it's typically the pre-processing that adds latency and whatever protocol overhead you have. It seems like Apple has done some great work to get pre-processing and protocol overhead down to a minimum. And you also have hearing aids that can be connected to iPhones and use the Live Listen. I just wish someone would provide an audio loop bridge for those that are stuck with older variants, as hearing aids are tuned to the frequency range of the person that needs them. AirPods, not so much.
- baby 7y ago
  > The whole point of hearing aids is to be easily forgotten and to last a day without the need to charge I thought the whole point of a watch was that you didn't need to charge it for months and it would tell you the time in exchange. Now people seem to be OK with charging their watches once a day.
michaelbuckbee 7y ago
I'll have to try this, I had given my dad (who uses hearing aids) a pair of bone conduction headphones which he described as "the best he'd heard anything in 10 years". What I'd really like is a way to combine the bone conduction technology with Live Listen.
- vegardx 7y ago
  Another good example of why it would be really great with an audio loop (these inductive loops) bridge, or what you'd call it, of some sort. Then you could use almost all existing hearing aids with this, as it's supported by most hearing aids.
- thegabriele 7y ago
  Which ones if i may ask?
  - michaelbuckbee 7y ago
    Boneshox or some cheap pair off of Amazon (nothing high end).
germinalphrase 7y ago
I work with teenagers and there is a distinct lack of social stigma around having a conversation while wearing (at least) one earbud. Older folks immediately find this rude as it implies the listener is only paying half attention, or can’t be bothered to turn off their music. Young people simply don’t care as much - while will be important if AR is ever going to take off as we will need to bridge our social acceptance beyond the ‘glasshole’ phase.
- scarface74 7y ago
  To add on, - there was a famous scene in “Clueless” (1995) where the “rich” girls were walking down the hall in school with cell phones and they were seen to be out of touch. Now, that’s perfectly normal. - only “nerds” walked around with their calculator and video game watches and now millions of people have “wrist computers”. - When I was in school, if you had a pager, everyone assumed you were a drug dealer.
- partyboat1586 7y ago
  The attention drain will expand from smartphones to augmented reality, visual and auditory. Teenagers already engaging in a mild, early form of audio AR without stigma predicts this will happen. I do not look forward to this future and the inevitable struggles we will go through in finding a way to use AR responsibily without impacting mental health and social cohesiveness. I'm sure AR will be important to our future and will be a great enabler but it is not without its risks, the main one being stolen attention.
  - germinalphrase 7y ago
    Unfortunately, designing products with social/mental/moral welfare tends to push them into a higher price point vs mass market. Caring about “mental health and social cohesiveness” will not win out against feeding users’ vanity, individualism and pleasure drive. It’s a task to think about though. How much veiling and social intermediation will people accept (or socially require) before the deep alienation sets in?

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

boudin 7y ago

The whole point of hearing aids is to be easily forgotten and to last a day without the need to charge. I'm quite sure that with a good computer, profesionnal microphones and some good headphones with a jack you'll have a better solution with lower latency than an iphone and airpods, but that misses the point of hearing aids

hombre_fatal 7y ago
My father doesn't even use his $1000+ hearing aids because he says they just amplify everything and don't help. If Airpods + an iPhone on the table can help him out, like making table conversation more accessible, that would be a big deal. I'll have to look into it. The point of Airpods + iPhone here is that they are still highly portable, people today already carry both around just for fun. Your desktop PC + mic setup is not.
- jjeaff 7y ago
  That's not the way high end hearing aids are supposed to work, at all. You can buy $20 off the shelf hearing aids that just amplify everything. Although $1,000 is not quite what high end hearing aids usually go for. I usually see prices closer to $3000+.
vegardx 7y ago
The whole point of hearing aids is to hear better. That they last a few days on a single battery or charge is a nice addition. And probably, a a whole sleuth of gear and cables can probably provide better quality, but it's not something you can easily bring with you to a cafe. Or use, because it would be a mess to set up when you need it. When I say low latency I mean truly low latency. It's at the level where your brain easily tunes it out. Comparable to using cables. Remember, transmitting data over RF can be very low latency, it's typically the pre-processing that adds latency and whatever protocol overhead you have. It seems like Apple has done some great work to get pre-processing and protocol overhead down to a minimum. And you also have hearing aids that can be connected to iPhones and use the Live Listen. I just wish someone would provide an audio loop bridge for those that are stuck with older variants, as hearing aids are tuned to the frequency range of the person that needs them. AirPods, not so much.
baby 7y ago
> The whole point of hearing aids is to be easily forgotten and to last a day without the need to charge I thought the whole point of a watch was that you didn't need to charge it for months and it would tell you the time in exchange. Now people seem to be OK with charging their watches once a day.

michaelbuckbee 7y ago

I'll have to try this, I had given my dad (who uses hearing aids) a pair of bone conduction headphones which he described as "the best he'd heard anything in 10 years". What I'd really like is a way to combine the bone conduction technology with Live Listen.

vegardx 7y ago
Another good example of why it would be really great with an audio loop (these inductive loops) bridge, or what you'd call it, of some sort. Then you could use almost all existing hearing aids with this, as it's supported by most hearing aids.
thegabriele 7y ago
Which ones if i may ask?
- michaelbuckbee 7y ago
  Boneshox or some cheap pair off of Amazon (nothing high end).

germinalphrase 7y ago

I work with teenagers and there is a distinct lack of social stigma around having a conversation while wearing (at least) one earbud. Older folks immediately find this rude as it implies the listener is only paying half attention, or can’t be bothered to turn off their music. Young people simply don’t care as much - while will be important if AR is ever going to take off as we will need to bridge our social acceptance beyond the ‘glasshole’ phase.

scarface74 7y ago
To add on, - there was a famous scene in “Clueless” (1995) where the “rich” girls were walking down the hall in school with cell phones and they were seen to be out of touch. Now, that’s perfectly normal. - only “nerds” walked around with their calculator and video game watches and now millions of people have “wrist computers”. - When I was in school, if you had a pager, everyone assumed you were a drug dealer.
partyboat1586 7y ago
The attention drain will expand from smartphones to augmented reality, visual and auditory. Teenagers already engaging in a mild, early form of audio AR without stigma predicts this will happen. I do not look forward to this future and the inevitable struggles we will go through in finding a way to use AR responsibily without impacting mental health and social cohesiveness. I'm sure AR will be important to our future and will be a great enabler but it is not without its risks, the main one being stolen attention.
- germinalphrase 7y ago
  Unfortunately, designing products with social/mental/moral welfare tends to push them into a higher price point vs mass market. Caring about “mental health and social cohesiveness” will not win out against feeding users’ vanity, individualism and pleasure drive. It’s a task to think about though. How much veiling and social intermediation will people accept (or socially require) before the deep alienation sets in?