cg27

corrections said:

lkrupp said:

Go get ‘em Daniel, asshat clowns that they are. Another turd was recently launched by Forbes declaring TV+ DOA and that Apple should kill it now to save face. https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/2020/01/27/its-time-for-apple-to-kill-apple-tv/#1c0cf5cf7e15

Even worse, I saw a Forbes contributor writing up a dozen paragraphs about Facebook "taking on" Face ID and how it was going to challenge Apple in face recognition without sending any data back to its servers, while wondering how this might work.

The entire thing was based on a tweet by somebody noting that FB planed to add FaceID lock to Messenger. Apple's FaceID, to unlock the app for greater security. 

The guy then assumed this somehow meant Facebook was hand rolling its own face recognition system to run on device and using Apple's trade name for it. He was the CEO or some company, too. 

Modern mean means anyone can say literally anything and have a byline on what was formerly an actual magazine.  

Sanctum1972 said:

GeorgeBMac said:

Sanctum1972 said:

cg27 said:

StrangeDays said:

cg27 said:

And while Apple Watch now can alert you to noisy high decibel surroundings, I hope this is merely a baby step towards Apple offering...

full fledged AirPod hearing aids,

which I’ll call AirPodEars.

Only Apple has the cachet to overnight rid the perceived stigma of wearing hearing aids (which prevents many folks from even considering them, let alone the high cost of purchase and battery replacements).

Not only that, by virtue of Apple designing them they could actually be fashionable, just as eye glasses are.

And coupled with AppleWatch and/or iPhone control, the AirPodEars would be far simpler, superior and cheaper to purchase and operate.

Come on Apple, I’m sure this must be in development.

A friend has an iPhone app-controlled hearing aid. It is so small I didn’t even notice it until he pointed it out. That being said, I have zero expectation for Apple to build this first-party. Just like how they don’t build printers, scanners, or many other specialty accessories. 

I don’t disagree that Apple hearing aids might seem too niche, however:

+ On average 10,000 Americans turn 65 EVERY day, and this baby boom generation will need plenty of hearing help

+ It bears repeating: Only Apple has the cachet to make hearing aids acceptable to the vast majority with no stigma, so much so that they wouldn’t need to be hidden or tiny but rather obvious like AirPods, thus allowing better and rechargeable battery life without the need for expensive battery replacements

+ Replacing $300 AirPodEars would be a lot cheaper than the $2000 or more aids cost now (each for the better ones)

+ In fact, if they look identical to AirPods or AirPod Pros, no one would know if they were regular AirPods or hearing enhancers.

- The only negatives I can see for Apple is that the demographic tends to be older (thus generally less hip) and having lead the way with iPods and everyone blasting music in their ears Apple might be overly sensitive to being associated with helping cause the hearing loss in the first place

+ Apple could offer these readily.  Medical device approvals shouldn’t be that difficult with Apple’s R&D capability 

+ Apple would be admired for turning a major stigma inside out (from scourge to fashion statement, if one so chooses)

I'm born deaf myself with severe hearing loss on the left and profound on the right, wearing only one digital hearing aid on the left side. I've literally grown up with the HA with a box in a shirt pocket with wires  ( think headphones ) from the late 70s all the way to BTE ( behind the ear ) design and can say that digital hearing aids are now the standard. I loved the analog aids due to their bass and volume sound quality, not to mention that they were a lot cheaper in the range of $500-800, sometimes $1,200 for a pair at the most. However, they've been phased out mostly in favor of digital which has to be programmed by the audiologist. My current digital hearing aid is from Phonak and cost about $1,200. Just for one. Fortunately, insurance coverage was available and I have a very good audiologist. 

Also, hearing aids are considered 'medical' devices that can be covered by insurance, or if one can afford to pay in cash/credit. An Apple designed hearing aid would require approval to be covered by insurance as a medical device. My problem is with the actual design of AirPods that go right into your ear canal in contrast to the BTE design which is a lot more stable and more powerful ( think Beats Pro headphones with ear hooks ).

And you literally have to have a earmold cast for the hearing aid to fit into your ear properly. Also digital hearing aids that are controlled by an iPhone concerns me in that if you lose the phone, how do you control the HA? 

Most importantly, for a hearing aid to work for the person with hearing loss, a hearing test must be done by an audiologist to determine the level of loss and which type of HA works best. Therefore, Apple's 'one size fits all' solution won't work. Consider this. Analog hearing aids are like amplifiers but they're designed to work with someone's specific hearing loss or deafness as they all differ for each person. Trust me, I've tried the 'in your ear' hearing aid years ago and it didn't sound good to me and that was because it wasn't powerful enough to provide 'oomph' and didn't match my hearing loss. This is why I cannot use the regular EarPods that came with the iPhone as they don't fit in my ear at all and have to rely on a HATIS headset that uses telecoil to block out the background noise entirely and only focuses on the audio ( shaped like a hook a wire straight to the headphone jack  or adapter ) or use a bluetooth receiver with an 8 hour battery with a neck loop that can stream music or audio ( ie. movies, video calls, etc ) straight from any iOS device or PC. I got the receiver from the audiologist which usually costs over $100. 

Cochlear implants, OTOH, are a huge issue right now with the deaf community as an ongoing debate ( which has been viewed for years as a method of identity eugenics of sorts ) and mega expensive which I've heard horror stories about. I've seen the effects of it from a very old classmate I grew up with years ago and felt bad for him when he couldn't hear for two weeks post surgery, waiting to get proper activation. 

So in short, if you have vision needs ( ie. astigmatism or such ) with glasses, you go to an eye care professional for this. Same thing goes for hearing loss/deafness. I don't see Apple having the ability to design a hearing aid in an AirPod style design. 

And lastly, I do NOT see a practical use for AR goggles to replace the phone for the deaf or hard of hearing. Not one bit. Consider the fact that every deaf person I've known relies completely on texting or video calls to communicate. With AR goggles, it would not solve a long distance phone call as they cannot see each other. You need a camera so that they can see each other's sign language 'face to face'. Even if they're in public, I've heard stories how some have used special iOS live transcription apps to capture conversations in public to communicate. I use app such as Sign or Cardzilla where one types in large text and flashes the message across the room as you hold up the phone, especially handy in noisy environments like nightclubs or such. It works every time.

Plus, they have certain criteria when you use sign language on screen by wearing dark clothing so that the hands can be seen by contrast, especially if they're using a VRS ( video relay service ) who have call operators on screen to follow strict ASL protocol. I don't sign much as I was originally taught to speak orally in an audist program as ASL wasn't allowed at the time but these days, I'm still learning some of them to catch up and use in case of an emergency. 

But I would love Apple to build a small bluetooth device that clips on a shirt or stays tucked in clothing as a method to stream iOS music/audio to your hearing aid. There was a outdoor company ( this is the firm: https://www.outdoortechnology.com/ ) that made a rechargeable dongle with a clip and had an iPod like wheel with audio controls but with a headphone jack. Because where I live in New England, products like these are popular for outdoor activities. All you had to do was clip it to your belt or shirt and jack the old school headphones to it and walk around the house listening to music. This product came around around 2011-2012 ( I think) long before AirPods were a thing. And even if I'm driving, wind noise from the car door ( usually with closed windows ) usually masks my voice and I can't always raise Siri to access the map and I've wished there was a small bluetooth microphone to clip to my jacket so I don't have to scream for Siri.

NOTE: by the way, there are some hearing aids that are rechargeable but aren't cheap and most commonly require a battery which you can buy online or at a store, or audiologist. I use a size 675 for this and get huge packs from Amazon from a German company which is cheaper than what you get in the store. 

2nd NOTE: I want to mention that a local AR player on Ingress for iOS crossed my path a few times and once I met him in person, he had an in the ear headset for his phone to make calls. I noticed that he kept it in his ear the whole time and he mentioned that he uses it to 'pick up' the conversation with his phone that's set on the table or in front of people. I suggested he talk to an audiologist due to his hearing loss and see if he can get insurance to get a new hearing aid without relying on the headset but I haven't seen him in over a year or so. The point is that headsets such as AirPods are NOT a replacement for hearing aids. 

Most people requiring hearing aid assistance are on Medicare -- but traditional Medicare does not cover hearing aids.  Some Medicare Advantage plans may, but then your're dealing with all the issues associated with private insurance.

Also, it is slowly coming out that many simply need a sound amplifier rather than all the filters and such medical people specialize in. 

Unfortunately, the hearing industry, like the vision industry, has been overwhelmed with exorbitantly priced medicalization that many simply cannot afford.  Fortunately those cartels are being challenged by over-the-counter type solutions like Airpods.   Or, this summer I was able to prescribe and order a new pair of glasses for myself at less than a third the cost it would have cost me had I used the traditional medical structure.  Basically I saved $400-$500 and ended up with what I think are a better pair of glasses than I would have had from an optician.  (The last 2 prescriptions I got from eye doctors were way off the mark)

I think it is good that the medicalized hearing and vision structures are beginning to be limited to those who need that high level of care.    

Some of the Medicare plans may cover them, even Medicaid from the state. I think it's a state by state basis, however in my state a local organization is trying to push for support on a bill that requires hearing aid insurance coverage so people can benefit from that assistance. For those who are hard of hearing or experiencing hearing loss, some form of amplification is helpful unless it becomes profound to the point that a specialist is required as a last resort. 

In regards to vision care, no doubt about that. Glasses are not cheap and I've had one that was almost $350 back in 2011. I got a new one that was about $60 back in 2017 which wasn't bad and now I've a new prescription just for the lenses. So in that sense, I plan to go back to the original frames which were better built but only for the lenses to be replaced and hoping a new insurance plan will cover it via Medicare. I've thought about using the Warby Parker app to do it. 

I'm old school and prefer a hearing aid that has a BTE design which is more stable with an earmold compared to a counterpart such as an AirPod which people, from what I'm hearing, keep losing. Even someone posted in a local bulletin board in my town had found a lost AirPod to alert the public. I think an amplifier would only go so far for the hard of hearing demographic while for the deaf who require a hearing aid or cochlear implant, the situation would be different. And that means the AirPods would have to go through some industrial design changes for that to work since they still look like headphones. 

For me, there is no stigma because I'm used to it and whether people notice my hearing aid doesn't matter much. In winter, it's pretty much covered up with my hat but in warmer seasons, it's there. So I'm mainly responsible for letting people know I need to see what they're saying as I read lips. On the other hand, when it comes to communicating with deaf people, I just switch to sign language mode if needed. I've known some deaf people who don't even wear hearing aids and prefer to just move on with their lives without an audiologist and just sign. Nothing wrong with that, either. 

So in a sense, it appears to be the mainstreamed demographic that has a form of hearing loss and needing an amplifier and the other requiring an audiologist to get fitted for the hearing aid and ear mold. Cochlear implantation, from my understanding, takes some adjusting to the sound and going through some form of speech therapy with a specialist if it gets to that point. 

StrangeDays said:

cg27 said:

And while Apple Watch now can alert you to noisy high decibel surroundings, I hope this is merely a baby step towards Apple offering...

full fledged AirPod hearing aids,

which I’ll call AirPodEars.

Only Apple has the cachet to overnight rid the perceived stigma of wearing hearing aids (which prevents many folks from even considering them, let alone the high cost of purchase and battery replacements).

Not only that, by virtue of Apple designing them they could actually be fashionable, just as eye glasses are.

And coupled with AppleWatch and/or iPhone control, the AirPodEars would be far simpler, superior and cheaper to purchase and operate.

Come on Apple, I’m sure this must be in development.

A friend has an iPhone app-controlled hearing aid. It is so small I didn’t even notice it until he pointed it out. That being said, I have zero expectation for Apple to build this first-party. Just like how they don’t build printers, scanners, or many other specialty accessories.