XPost: comp.misc   
   From: et472@ncf.ca   
      
   On Wed, 19 Apr 2017, The Real Bev wrote:   
      
   > On 04/19/2017 11:55 AM, Mike Spencer wrote:   
   >> Adrian Caspersz  writes:   
   >>   
   >>> On 19/04/17 12:05, geoff wrote:   
   >>>   
   >>>> Kind of depends if you want headphones for high quality sound, or as a   
   >>>> fashion accessory.   
   >>>   
   >>> Or as a covert DIY hearing aid ..   
   >>>   
   >>> The future is going to see them rather prominent and fashionable like   
   >>> eyewear, and additionally integrated with the music/phone (possibly that   
   >>> made the user deaf in the first place[1]).   
   >>   
   >> AFAICT the circuit design and tuning controls are sophisticated,   
   >> albeit straigtforward, electronics but the big bucks are for fitting   
   >> all that into a widget the size of a fava bean.   
   >>   
   >> I'd be happy to wear headphones or earbuds and carry a widget the size   
   >> of a large cell phone if it worked for my hearing loss and cost a few   
   >> hundred bucks instead of the ca. $2,000 per ear.   
   >   
   > FWIW, the $2K ones aren't necessarily good either.  My mom had hers adjusted   
   > repeatedly, but they never got it right.  All she wanted was to be able to   
   > understand the women on TV, but the adjustments to improve higher voices also   
   > heightened annoying higher-frequency sounds.   That was in 2005, maybe the   
   > tech is better now.  Equalizers have been around for quite a while, though.   
   >   
   > I don't think the fact that they're made from a mold of the person's ear   
   > canal is important.  I asked my ENT guy about using hers if I ever needed   
   > them, and he said Fine, just have them adjusted for you.  Not much hope, but   
   > it won't cost $2K/ear to try!   
   >   
   I think early hearing aids used actual transducers like those that used to   
   come with transistor radios.  But somewhere along the line, the transducer   
   stayed in the hearing aid (certainly after the ones that fit over or in   
   the ear), and so there's just audio coupling to the ear.  The fitting of   
   the piece to one's ear just seems comfort, and I maybe for best coupling.   
   Now that all the rock stars are using in-ear monitors, they all have   
   custom fitted ear pieces.   
      
   I wonder if the hearing aids now have become like other things, they make   
   the hardware really cheap, and it applies to all, but the more money you   
   spend, the better the software or adjustment.  Or featurs kick in as the   
   money paid rises, but it's the software that makes this hearing aid better   
   than that one, rather than the hardware.   
      
      Michael   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)