A First Look at the Bose Hearing Aid - Self-Fitting Bose "Hearing Aid" Resembles Bose Hearphones

[Nick Thompson]

Dear Friammers,

 

One of the things we have talked about for years is the possibility of smartphone/hearing aid integration.  This looks like a beginning.

 

https://www.hearingtracker.com/news/first-look-at-the-bose-hearing-aid?utm_source=Hearing+Tracker+Updates&utm_campaign=5ff252547f-cvsupdate_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_790a5b8263-5ff252547f-455404113

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[Prof David West]

Nick,

The Bose Hearphone  is the product I showed you at the coffee shop on a visit a few months ago. I have one and use it regularly with mixed results. If anyone is interested, I can provide details of my experience.

davew

On Wed, Mar 13, 2019, at 10:32 PM, Nick Thompson wrote:

Dear Friammers,

 

One of the things we have talked about for years is the possibility of smartphone/hearing aid integration.  This looks like a beginning.

 

https://www.hearingtracker.com/news/first-look-at-the-bose-hearing-aid?utm_source=Hearing+Tracker+Updates&utm_campaign=5ff252547f-cvsupdate_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_790a5b8263-5ff252547f-455404113

============================================================

FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv

Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College

to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com

archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/

FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
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FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove

[Steve Smith]

Dave -

I would be interested in hearing your experiences, especially if your need/use is "in the margins" (but threatening to grow).

I think we will become the first generation of consumer-cyborgs...  

When my reading vision started failing a few years ago, I didn't (still don't) have the habit/discipline of keeping a (clean, unscratched, unbroken) pair of reading glasses handy, but *always* had my smart-phone handy and realized that not only could I take a picture of the poor-contrast-under-low-light menu I was trying to read, but I could just use the zoom function and hold it over the menu like a handheld magnifier.

I haven't had significant hearing challenges (yet) but am feeling it coming on, with lots of foreboding from various friends of mine (some younger) struggling (mildly) with notches in their spectrum that make my (low) voice difficult to hear/understand (or maybe I'm just mumbling more).  It has seemed to me that standard hardware (phone microphone/headphones) might well provide good hearing-boost with nothing more than a clever app to do a combination of amplification, equalization and even some frequency sqew?

This Bose system looks like it is trying to provide near-identical functionality to prescription/custom hearing aids.  My mom (@90) finally gave over to (very expensive) hearing aids a couple of years ago and she can hardly/barely use them.  I think most of her problem is that she can't get comfortable/familiar with them, and despite lots of "automatic" adjustment, she is probably not getting them set right under a wide range of circumstances.   If she had a lower cost to entry and stigma a decade ago, she might be using them effectively today.

I suspect that some (many) of us would develop a relationship with our wireless headphones that transcends just making phone calls and listening to our beats to drown out the chatter around us.  Do we know of any apps trying to achieve (some of) this?  

The two big things i sense that *real* hearing aids offer that an ad-hoc system like I'm suggesting win big with would include microphones *in* the earpieces, emulating the binaural/HRTF qualities of "normal" hearing, and blocking out *natural* sound so that there isn't a dual-signal coming in (is there a detectable delay in the electronic route?).

- Steve

Nick,

The Bose Hearphone  is the product I showed you at the coffee shop on a visit a few months ago. I have one and use it regularly with mixed results. If anyone is interested, I can provide details of my experience.

davew

On Wed, Mar 13, 2019, at 10:32 PM, Nick Thompson wrote:

Dear Friammers,

 

One of the things we have talked about for years is the possibility of smartphone/hearing aid integration.  This looks like a beginning.

 

https://www.hearingtracker.com/news/first-look-at-the-bose-hearing-aid?utm_source=Hearing+Tracker+Updates&utm_campaign=5ff252547f-cvsupdate_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_790a5b8263-5ff252547f-455404113

============================================================

FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv

Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College

to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com

archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/

FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/
FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/
FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove

[Nick Thompson]

Right, Dave,

 

I think this is a bit trimmed down, and gussied up from what you showed me.  Did you look at the description?  Let me know. 

 

Mike keeps pointing out that the ear is not really doing Fourier transforms  at all … it’s representing the geography of the cochlea from micro second to micro second.  What I never can understand is what MORE information is in the signal than timexfrequencyxintensity to be extracted.  Mike has explained it to me often but I have never quite been able to HEAR him.

 

[sigh]

 

Nick

 

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology

Clark University

http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

 

From: Friam [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Prof David West
Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2019 7:35 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] A First Look at the Bose Hearing Aid - Self-Fitting Bose "Hearing Aid" Resembles Bose Hearphones

 

Nick,

 

The Bose Hearphone  is the product I showed you at the coffee shop on a visit a few months ago. I have one and use it regularly with mixed results. If anyone is interested, I can provide details of my experience.

 

davew

 

 

On Wed, Mar 13, 2019, at 10:32 PM, Nick Thompson wrote:

Dear Friammers,

 

One of the things we have talked about for years is the possibility of smartphone/hearing aid integration.  This looks like a beginning.

 

https://www.hearingtracker.com/news/first-look-at-the-bose-hearing-aid?utm_source=Hearing+Tracker+Updates&utm_campaign=5ff252547f-cvsupdate_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_790a5b8263-5ff252547f-455404113

============================================================

FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv

Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College

to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com

archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/

FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove

 

 

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/
FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove

[Prof David West]

Nick and Steve (and anyone else listening in),

The only difference between the Bose "hearing aid" and the "hear phone" is the FDA classification. The FDA examined the hear phone  and gave Bose the approval to market it as a hearing aid. I suspect that there will be software differences, but minimal to no hardware changes when the hearing aid is released as an actual product. If there are software differences I would expect them to be available as upgrades - probably to the phone app that you can use to alter settings.

That said:

I can use the Hear Phones to listen to TV with the sound setting on the TV at '35' instead of at '100' that I have to use without them.

You can adjust the noise suppression feature to focus on a 'wedge' immediately in front of you, a semi circle in front of you, or a 360 field. The focus works great and most noise is filtered out.

Most of the time I am using them in the basement with, currently, concrete walls on all sides. This means that the pellet stove and its incessant droning motor sounds bounce across the entire room, including into the focus field, so it is never filtered out sufficiently. Constantly annoying. That does not happen in other settings.

In a FRIAM like setting, I would use the wedge-focus setting but would have to look at the person or persons I was talking to. If one person was to my left and the other to the right, I would have to turn my head for the focusing to work. This is kind of an obvious limitation.

A quirk, again because I am in a basement with no ceiling except insulation between joists, if sounds from upstairs are transmitted through the floor joists into the focus-wedge I hear them very well. This means I can 'evesdrop' on conversation upstairs if people are in a specific area of the house.

All in all, I would recommend them to others.  Go to a Bose store and get the demo before deciding.

davew

On Thu, Mar 14, 2019, at 9:27 AM, Nick Thompson wrote:

Right, Dave,

 

I think this is a bit trimmed down, and gussied up from what you showed me.  Did you look at the description?  Let me know. 

 

Mike keeps pointing out that the ear is not really doing Fourier transforms  at all … it’s representing the geography of the cochlea from micro second to micro second.  What I never can understand is what MORE information is in the signal than timexfrequencyxintensity to be extracted.  Mike has explained it to me often but I have never quite been able to HEAR him.

 

[sigh]

 

Nick

 

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology

Clark University

http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

 

From: Friam [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Prof David West
Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2019 7:35 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] A First Look at the Bose Hearing Aid - Self-Fitting Bose "Hearing Aid" Resembles Bose Hearphones

 

Nick,

 

The Bose Hearphone  is the product I showed you at the coffee shop on a visit a few months ago. I have one and use it regularly with mixed results. If anyone is interested, I can provide details of my experience.

 

davew

 

 

On Wed, Mar 13, 2019, at 10:32 PM, Nick Thompson wrote:

Dear Friammers,

 

One of the things we have talked about for years is the possibility of smartphone/hearing aid integration.  This looks like a beginning.

 

https://www.hearingtracker.com/news/first-look-at-the-bose-hearing-aid?utm_source=Hearing+Tracker+Updates&utm_campaign=5ff252547f-cvsupdate_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_790a5b8263-5ff252547f-455404113

============================================================

FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv

Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College

to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com

archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/

FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove

 

 

============================================================

FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv

Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College

to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com

archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/

FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/
FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove

[Nick Thompson]

Thanks, Dave, for that report.  Very useful. 

 

What consumer reports says is that you really need the help of an audiologist to properly tune hearing aids and keep them operable.  So, for instance, as part of the 5 grand (!) I paid for my pair I got a cleaning, adjustment of the program any time I wanted, and excellent free coffee and cookies anytime I went in.  As we struggled with the ramification of being a double hearing aid family, this proved comforting, if not useful.  A lot of money for “Tea and Sympathy.”

 

What the advertising for the Bose suggests is that it has some sort of self tuning feature.  I can’t imagine what that would be or how it would substitute for consultation with an audiologist.   But one could buy 10 hours with a shrink and LOTS of coffee and cookies for the difference. 

 

What does the smart phone angle do for you? 

 

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology

Clark University

http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

 

From: Friam [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Prof David West
Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2019 11:56 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] A First Look at the Bose Hearing Aid - Self-Fitting Bose "Hearing Aid" Resembles Bose Hearphones

 

Nick and Steve (and anyone else listening in),

 

The only difference between the Bose "hearing aid" and the "hear phone" is the FDA classification. The FDA examined the hear phone  and gave Bose the approval to market it as a hearing aid. I suspect that there will be software differences, but minimal to no hardware changes when the hearing aid is released as an actual product. If there are software differences I would expect them to be available as upgrades - probably to the phone app that you can use to alter settings.

 

That said:

 

I can use the Hear Phones to listen to TV with the sound setting on the TV at '35' instead of at '100' that I have to use without them.

 

You can adjust the noise suppression feature to focus on a 'wedge' immediately in front of you, a semi circle in front of you, or a 360 field. The focus works great and most noise is filtered out.

 

Most of the time I am using them in the basement with, currently, concrete walls on all sides. This means that the pellet stove and its incessant droning motor sounds bounce across the entire room, including into the focus field, so it is never filtered out sufficiently. Constantly annoying. That does not happen in other settings.

 

In a FRIAM like setting, I would use the wedge-focus setting but would have to look at the person or persons I was talking to. If one person was to my left and the other to the right, I would have to turn my head for the focusing to work. This is kind of an obvious limitation.

 

A quirk, again because I am in a basement with no ceiling except insulation between joists, if sounds from upstairs are transmitted through the floor joists into the focus-wedge I hear them very well. This means I can 'evesdrop' on conversation upstairs if people are in a specific area of the house.

 

All in all, I would recommend them to others.  Go to a Bose store and get the demo before deciding.

 

davew

 

 

On Thu, Mar 14, 2019, at 9:27 AM, Nick Thompson wrote:

Right, Dave,

 

I think this is a bit trimmed down, and gussied up from what you showed me.  Did you look at the description?  Let me know. 

 

Mike keeps pointing out that the ear is not really doing Fourier transforms  at all … it’s representing the geography of the cochlea from micro second to micro second.  What I never can understand is what MORE information is in the signal than timexfrequencyxintensity to be extracted.  Mike has explained it to me often but I have never quite been able to HEAR him.

 

[sigh]

 

Nick

 

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology

Clark University

http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

 

From: Friam [[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Prof David West
Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2019 7:35 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] A First Look at the Bose Hearing Aid - Self-Fitting Bose "Hearing Aid" Resembles Bose Hearphones

 

Nick,

 

The Bose Hearphone  is the product I showed you at the coffee shop on a visit a few months ago. I have one and use it regularly with mixed results. If anyone is interested, I can provide details of my experience.

 

davew

 

 

On Wed, Mar 13, 2019, at 10:32 PM, Nick Thompson wrote:

Dear Friammers,

 

One of the things we have talked about for years is the possibility of smartphone/hearing aid integration.  This looks like a beginning.

 

https://www.hearingtracker.com/news/first-look-at-the-bose-hearing-aid?utm_source=Hearing+Tracker+Updates&utm_campaign=5ff252547f-cvsupdate_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_790a5b8263-5ff252547f-455404113

============================================================

FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv

Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College

to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com

archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/

FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove

 

 

============================================================

FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv

Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College

to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com

archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/

FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove

 

 

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/
FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove

[Prof David West]

The phone app allows you to adjust volume, the three types of focus I mentioned, balance between right and left ear, and treble/bass. I was told that you can adjust all except focus differently for each ear but have not tried that.

When it comes to adjustment - given the possible range of adjustments - doing it yourself simply dis-intermediates the audiologist. After all, she makes an adjustment, you report better or worse, and they adjust again. Same thing with the hear phones, except you tell yourself "better" or "worse" and make your own adjustment.

Not disparaging audiologists or cookies - the obviously have training and equipment that is far more precise and powerful, but, in the end more effective?????

davew

On Thu, Mar 14, 2019, at 1:12 PM, Nick Thompson wrote:

Thanks, Dave, for that report.  Very useful. 

 

What consumer reports says is that you really need the help of an audiologist to properly tune hearing aids and keep them operable.  So, for instance, as part of the 5 grand (!) I paid for my pair I got a cleaning, adjustment of the program any time I wanted, and excellent free coffee and cookies anytime I went in.  As we struggled with the ramification of being a double hearing aid family, this proved comforting, if not useful.  A lot of money for “Tea and Sympathy.”

 

What the advertising for the Bose suggests is that it has some sort of self tuning feature.  I can’t imagine what that would be or how it would substitute for consultation with an audiologist.   But one could buy 10 hours with a shrink and LOTS of coffee and cookies for the difference. 

 

What does the smart phone angle do for you? 

 

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology

Clark University

http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

 

From: Friam [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Prof David West
Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2019 11:56 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] A First Look at the Bose Hearing Aid - Self-Fitting Bose "Hearing Aid" Resembles Bose Hearphones

 

Nick and Steve (and anyone else listening in),

 

The only difference between the Bose "hearing aid" and the "hear phone" is the FDA classification. The FDA examined the hear phone  and gave Bose the approval to market it as a hearing aid. I suspect that there will be software differences, but minimal to no hardware changes when the hearing aid is released as an actual product. If there are software differences I would expect them to be available as upgrades - probably to the phone app that you can use to alter settings.

 

That said:

 

I can use the Hear Phones to listen to TV with the sound setting on the TV at '35' instead of at '100' that I have to use without them.

 

You can adjust the noise suppression feature to focus on a 'wedge' immediately in front of you, a semi circle in front of you, or a 360 field. The focus works great and most noise is filtered out.

 

Most of the time I am using them in the basement with, currently, concrete walls on all sides. This means that the pellet stove and its incessant droning motor sounds bounce across the entire room, including into the focus field, so it is never filtered out sufficiently. Constantly annoying. That does not happen in other settings.

 

In a FRIAM like setting, I would use the wedge-focus setting but would have to look at the person or persons I was talking to. If one person was to my left and the other to the right, I would have to turn my head for the focusing to work. This is kind of an obvious limitation.

 

A quirk, again because I am in a basement with no ceiling except insulation between joists, if sounds from upstairs are transmitted through the floor joists into the focus-wedge I hear them very well. This means I can 'evesdrop' on conversation upstairs if people are in a specific area of the house.

 

All in all, I would recommend them to others.  Go to a Bose store and get the demo before deciding.

 

davew

 

 

On Thu, Mar 14, 2019, at 9:27 AM, Nick Thompson wrote:

Right, Dave,

 

I think this is a bit trimmed down, and gussied up from what you showed me.  Did you look at the description?  Let me know. 

 

Mike keeps pointing out that the ear is not really doing Fourier transforms  at all … it’s representing the geography of the cochlea from micro second to micro second.  What I never can understand is what MORE information is in the signal than timexfrequencyxintensity to be extracted.  Mike has explained it to me often but I have never quite been able to HEAR him.

 

[sigh]

 

Nick

 

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology

Clark University

http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

 

From: Friam [[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Prof David West
Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2019 7:35 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] A First Look at the Bose Hearing Aid - Self-Fitting Bose "Hearing Aid" Resembles Bose Hearphones

 

Nick,

 

The Bose Hearphone  is the product I showed you at the coffee shop on a visit a few months ago. I have one and use it regularly with mixed results. If anyone is interested, I can provide details of my experience.

 

davew

 

 

On Wed, Mar 13, 2019, at 10:32 PM, Nick Thompson wrote:

Dear Friammers,

 

One of the things we have talked about for years is the possibility of smartphone/hearing aid integration.  This looks like a beginning.

 

https://www.hearingtracker.com/news/first-look-at-the-bose-hearing-aid?utm_source=Hearing+Tracker+Updates&utm_campaign=5ff252547f-cvsupdate_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_790a5b8263-5ff252547f-455404113

============================================================

FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv

Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College

to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com

archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/

FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove

 

 

============================================================

FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv

Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College

to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com

archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/

FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove

 

 

============================================================

FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv

Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College

to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com

archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/

FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/
FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove

[Nick Thompson]

So, does it have some test routines built into it?  It feeds you stimuli and you tell it how you like them?  Helping you to find your “notch”? 

 

Nick

 

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology

Clark University

http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

 

From: Friam [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Prof David West
Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2019 1:39 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] A First Look at the Bose Hearing Aid - Self-Fitting Bose "Hearing Aid" Resembles Bose Hearphones

 

The phone app allows you to adjust volume, the three types of focus I mentioned, balance between right and left ear, and treble/bass. I was told that you can adjust all except focus differently for each ear but have not tried that.

 

When it comes to adjustment - given the possible range of adjustments - doing it yourself simply dis-intermediates the audiologist. After all, she makes an adjustment, you report better or worse, and they adjust again. Same thing with the hear phones, except you tell yourself "better" or "worse" and make your own adjustment.

 

Not disparaging audiologists or cookies - the obviously have training and equipment that is far more precise and powerful, but, in the end more effective?????

 

davew

 

 

On Thu, Mar 14, 2019, at 1:12 PM, Nick Thompson wrote:

Thanks, Dave, for that report.  Very useful. 

 

What consumer reports says is that you really need the help of an audiologist to properly tune hearing aids and keep them operable.  So, for instance, as part of the 5 grand (!) I paid for my pair I got a cleaning, adjustment of the program any time I wanted, and excellent free coffee and cookies anytime I went in.  As we struggled with the ramification of being a double hearing aid family, this proved comforting, if not useful.  A lot of money for “Tea and Sympathy.”

 

What the advertising for the Bose suggests is that it has some sort of self tuning feature.  I can’t imagine what that would be or how it would substitute for consultation with an audiologist.   But one could buy 10 hours with a shrink and LOTS of coffee and cookies for the difference. 

 

What does the smart phone angle do for you? 

 

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology

Clark University

http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

 

From: Friam [[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Prof David West
Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2019 11:56 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] A First Look at the Bose Hearing Aid - Self-Fitting Bose "Hearing Aid" Resembles Bose Hearphones

 

Nick and Steve (and anyone else listening in),

 

The only difference between the Bose "hearing aid" and the "hear phone" is the FDA classification. The FDA examined the hear phone  and gave Bose the approval to market it as a hearing aid. I suspect that there will be software differences, but minimal to no hardware changes when the hearing aid is released as an actual product. If there are software differences I would expect them to be available as upgrades - probably to the phone app that you can use to alter settings.

 

That said:

 

I can use the Hear Phones to listen to TV with the sound setting on the TV at '35' instead of at '100' that I have to use without them.

 

You can adjust the noise suppression feature to focus on a 'wedge' immediately in front of you, a semi circle in front of you, or a 360 field. The focus works great and most noise is filtered out.

 

Most of the time I am using them in the basement with, currently, concrete walls on all sides. This means that the pellet stove and its incessant droning motor sounds bounce across the entire room, including into the focus field, so it is never filtered out sufficiently. Constantly annoying. That does not happen in other settings.

 

In a FRIAM like setting, I would use the wedge-focus setting but would have to look at the person or persons I was talking to. If one person was to my left and the other to the right, I would have to turn my head for the focusing to work. This is kind of an obvious limitation.

 

A quirk, again because I am in a basement with no ceiling except insulation between joists, if sounds from upstairs are transmitted through the floor joists into the focus-wedge I hear them very well. This means I can 'evesdrop' on conversation upstairs if people are in a specific area of the house.

 

All in all, I would recommend them to others.  Go to a Bose store and get the demo before deciding.

 

davew

 

 

On Thu, Mar 14, 2019, at 9:27 AM, Nick Thompson wrote:

Right, Dave,

 

I think this is a bit trimmed down, and gussied up from what you showed me.  Did you look at the description?  Let me know. 

 

Mike keeps pointing out that the ear is not really doing Fourier transforms  at all … it’s representing the geography of the cochlea from micro second to micro second.  What I never can understand is what MORE information is in the signal than timexfrequencyxintensity to be extracted.  Mike has explained it to me often but I have never quite been able to HEAR him.

 

[sigh]

 

Nick

 

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology

Clark University

http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

 

From: Friam [[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Prof David West
Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2019 7:35 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] A First Look at the Bose Hearing Aid - Self-Fitting Bose "Hearing Aid" Resembles Bose Hearphones

 

Nick,

 

The Bose Hearphone  is the product I showed you at the coffee shop on a visit a few months ago. I have one and use it regularly with mixed results. If anyone is interested, I can provide details of my experience.

 

davew

 

 

On Wed, Mar 13, 2019, at 10:32 PM, Nick Thompson wrote:

Dear Friammers,

 

One of the things we have talked about for years is the possibility of smartphone/hearing aid integration.  This looks like a beginning.

 

https://www.hearingtracker.com/news/first-look-at-the-bose-hearing-aid?utm_source=Hearing+Tracker+Updates&utm_campaign=5ff252547f-cvsupdate_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_790a5b8263-5ff252547f-455404113

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[Prof David West]

No routines, just direct adjustment of the relevant variables. I do think it has some "presets" to select from, but I would have to look as I have never used them.

davew

On Thu, Mar 14, 2019, at 4:46 PM, Nick Thompson wrote:

So, does it have some test routines built into it?  It feeds you stimuli and you tell it how you like them?  Helping you to find your “notch”? 

 

Nick

 

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology

Clark University

http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

 

From: Friam [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Prof David West
Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2019 1:39 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] A First Look at the Bose Hearing Aid - Self-Fitting Bose "Hearing Aid" Resembles Bose Hearphones

 

The phone app allows you to adjust volume, the three types of focus I mentioned, balance between right and left ear, and treble/bass. I was told that you can adjust all except focus differently for each ear but have not tried that.

 

When it comes to adjustment - given the possible range of adjustments - doing it yourself simply dis-intermediates the audiologist. After all, she makes an adjustment, you report better or worse, and they adjust again. Same thing with the hear phones, except you tell yourself "better" or "worse" and make your own adjustment.

 

Not disparaging audiologists or cookies - the obviously have training and equipment that is far more precise and powerful, but, in the end more effective?????

 

davew

 

 

On Thu, Mar 14, 2019, at 1:12 PM, Nick Thompson wrote:

Thanks, Dave, for that report.  Very useful. 

 

What consumer reports says is that you really need the help of an audiologist to properly tune hearing aids and keep them operable.  So, for instance, as part of the 5 grand (!) I paid for my pair I got a cleaning, adjustment of the program any time I wanted, and excellent free coffee and cookies anytime I went in.  As we struggled with the ramification of being a double hearing aid family, this proved comforting, if not useful.  A lot of money for “Tea and Sympathy.”

 

What the advertising for the Bose suggests is that it has some sort of self tuning feature.  I can’t imagine what that would be or how it would substitute for consultation with an audiologist.   But one could buy 10 hours with a shrink and LOTS of coffee and cookies for the difference. 

 

What does the smart phone angle do for you? 

 

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology

Clark University

http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

 

From: Friam [[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Prof David West
Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2019 11:56 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] A First Look at the Bose Hearing Aid - Self-Fitting Bose "Hearing Aid" Resembles Bose Hearphones

 

Nick and Steve (and anyone else listening in),

 

The only difference between the Bose "hearing aid" and the "hear phone" is the FDA classification. The FDA examined the hear phone  and gave Bose the approval to market it as a hearing aid. I suspect that there will be software differences, but minimal to no hardware changes when the hearing aid is released as an actual product. If there are software differences I would expect them to be available as upgrades - probably to the phone app that you can use to alter settings.

 

That said:

 

I can use the Hear Phones to listen to TV with the sound setting on the TV at '35' instead of at '100' that I have to use without them.

 

You can adjust the noise suppression feature to focus on a 'wedge' immediately in front of you, a semi circle in front of you, or a 360 field. The focus works great and most noise is filtered out.

 

Most of the time I am using them in the basement with, currently, concrete walls on all sides. This means that the pellet stove and its incessant droning motor sounds bounce across the entire room, including into the focus field, so it is never filtered out sufficiently. Constantly annoying. That does not happen in other settings.

 

In a FRIAM like setting, I would use the wedge-focus setting but would have to look at the person or persons I was talking to. If one person was to my left and the other to the right, I would have to turn my head for the focusing to work. This is kind of an obvious limitation.

 

A quirk, again because I am in a basement with no ceiling except insulation between joists, if sounds from upstairs are transmitted through the floor joists into the focus-wedge I hear them very well. This means I can 'evesdrop' on conversation upstairs if people are in a specific area of the house.

 

All in all, I would recommend them to others.  Go to a Bose store and get the demo before deciding.

 

davew

 

 

On Thu, Mar 14, 2019, at 9:27 AM, Nick Thompson wrote:

Right, Dave,

 

I think this is a bit trimmed down, and gussied up from what you showed me.  Did you look at the description?  Let me know. 

 

Mike keeps pointing out that the ear is not really doing Fourier transforms  at all … it’s representing the geography of the cochlea from micro second to micro second.  What I never can understand is what MORE information is in the signal than timexfrequencyxintensity to be extracted.  Mike has explained it to me often but I have never quite been able to HEAR him.

 

[sigh]

 

Nick

 

Nicholas S. Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology

Clark University

http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/

 

From: Friam [[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Prof David West
Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2019 7:35 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] A First Look at the Bose Hearing Aid - Self-Fitting Bose "Hearing Aid" Resembles Bose Hearphones

 

Nick,

 

The Bose Hearphone  is the product I showed you at the coffee shop on a visit a few months ago. I have one and use it regularly with mixed results. If anyone is interested, I can provide details of my experience.

 

davew

 

 

On Wed, Mar 13, 2019, at 10:32 PM, Nick Thompson wrote:

Dear Friammers,

 

One of the things we have talked about for years is the possibility of smartphone/hearing aid integration.  This looks like a beginning.

 

https://www.hearingtracker.com/news/first-look-at-the-bose-hearing-aid?utm_source=Hearing+Tracker+Updates&utm_campaign=5ff252547f-cvsupdate_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_790a5b8263-5ff252547f-455404113

============================================================

FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv

Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College

to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com

archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/

FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove

 

 

============================================================

FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv

Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College

to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com

archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/

FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove

 

 

============================================================

FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv

Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College

to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com

archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/

FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove

 

 

============================================================

FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv

Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College

to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com

archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/

FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
archives back to 2003: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/
FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove