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SoundAMP turns an iPhone into a hearing aid
For $9.99, SoundAMP does the work of hearing aids costing hundreds of dollars.
An iPhone can take the place of all kinds of gear--an air mouse, a metronome, a golfer's GPS, and so on. Now, thanks to SoundAMP, it can fill in for a hearing aid as well.
The $9.99 app turns an iPhone or second-gen iPod Touch into an "interactive hearing device"--a fancy way of saying it amplifies the sound around you.
All you do is fire up SoundAMP and plug in a pair of earphones. (iPod Touch users will need one with an inline microphone.) Then just raise or lower the oversize slider until you get the volume you want.
The app also lets you adjust the tone to your liking, helpful for users who have hearing loss in specific tonal areas.
There's even a kind of "audio DVR" feature: you can replay the last 5 or 30 seconds of a conversation just by tapping an onscreen button.
According to the developers, SoundAMP improves your hearing quality in a variety of environments, including lecture halls and noisy restaurants. Thus, it has the potential to help students as well as the hearing-impaired.
At $9.99, the app is considerably cheaper than any hearing aid--though obviously you need a not-so-cheap iPhone or iPod Touch to use it. If you happen to be among the target audience for this app, hit the comments and let us know if it (sorry) sounds like a winner.
Rick Broida, a technology writer for nearly 20 years, is the author of more than a dozen books. In addition to writing CNET's The Cheapskate blog, he oversees BNET's Business Hacks. Rick is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CBS Interactive. Disclosure. Deals found on The Cheapskate are subject to availability, expiration, and other terms determined by sellers. Follow Rick on Twitter at cheapskateblog.
I am not sure I see the utility in the app as most folks who require help need it ubiquitously. That comes with the size and battery life of most commercially available aids. This system of IPhone and headset is limited by battery life or the battery life of the IPhone, aside from also being clunky (unless there is something I don't understand about the concept).
Perhaps there would be some benefit for the friends/spouses/children of the hearing impaired as they engage in the quest to convince the hard of hearing and hard of head (me) that they need help, at a price in time and dollars that is less than a visit to the audiologist. The ability to demostrate the need could go a long way to convince folks they indeed have a problem. But as a main assist...don't see it.
10 bucks is the price of lunch at a restaurant....versus the one-time cost of an app that could arguably improve your quality of life for years. You really find that worthy of disgust?
For those of us, however, who only occasionally require a hearing boost, such as having one particular professor who never lectures loudly enough to reach the whole auditorium, this could be a great item.
I'd buy it. If I had an iPhone.
This isn't expensive at all. My current aids (just over three years old now) cost $2,600. They're more expensive now, naturally, but more capable.
The greatest obstacle for anyone who needs hearing aids is realizing the benefit they can gain from them. Hearing loss is frequently a slow and insidious process, and we don't realize how bad things have become. We begin to ignore or deny that we may not be hearing things as we once did. This leads to unintentional isolation (we miss things said) and intentional isolation (avoiding environments that have become confusing and embarrassing to us, group gatherings, restaurants, places with background noise, or places where our hearing loss could be exposed, like classrooms). This can lead to a sense of paranoia (are they talking about me?), etc. This app could be a gateway to trying out the benefits of sound amplification, and realizing that more help is needed.
I am curious to know what kind of sound processing is available in this, and future apps. Feedback management? The extent of custom tuning frequency ampilification to match impaired hearing frequencies? Background noise management?
Finally, the irony of the iPod, with the hearing damage caused by it's loud, long playing ability, and nearly universal use, now coming to the aid (pun intended) of the hearing impaired, is music to my ears!
http://ramslifeofalinguist.blogspot.com/2009/07/ipod-for-hearing-loss.html
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by bloggy09
July 11, 2009 4:10 AM PDT
- See my feedback to this article at:
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by bloggy09
July 11, 2009 4:14 AM PDT
- Apologies for the duplicate post. There is no 'delete' button, or I would've removed it.
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(19 Comments)http://ramslifeofalinguist.blogspot.com/2009/07/ipod-for-hearing-loss.html