Bose Launches 'Hearphones' That Act Like Hearing Aids (theverge.com) 65
Bose has launched a new pair of earbuds called Hearphones that augment the sounds of the world around you, letting you select what kinds of outside noises you'd like to listen to. "Hearphones users can also pick which direction those outside noises come from, with what appears to be specific emphasis on helping people hear voices better in crowded places," reports The Verge: A "Bose Hear" app was recently added to the App Store, and offers a little more detail about what Hearphones are capable of. You can turn the "world volume" up or down, and change the direction you're hearing those sounds from. There are preset modes like "television," "focused conversation," "airplane," "doctor's office," or "gym," all of which presumably block out different sounds from different directions while letting in things like speech. A user manual was also recently submitted to the FCC. No pricing or availability can be found anywhere on Bose's website or in the app. Here's some more from that app's description: "Innovative technologies amplify softer sounds, let you turn down the distractions in noisy environments and focus on what you want to hear -- like a conversation across the table. You can also use them as controllable noise cancelling [sic] wireless headphones for your music or calls or just for quiet. Take control of the noise, and hear the world better."
Wife (Score:3, Funny)
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It turns out that my ears came with that feature already built in to them.
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My grandfather used to turn down his hearing aid when he didn't want to listen to my grandmother.
Of course, then she'd yell at him to turn it up. Sometimes he'd respond.
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Get over it (Score:1)
Exactly right, Mr. Trump. Grab em by the pussy!
Hillary lost, get over it.
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Yes.
She's need to steal 68 electoral votes to "win". Not legally possible, but legalities never seemed to bother her.
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"staunch Republicans"= RINOs, i.e., Republicans who talk like Conservatives and vote like Democrats, so they are Democrats in Republican clothing.
And she did NOT win by "record margin". Not even close. Check the margins of victory in the two previous presidential elections.
And, there is NO evidence of Russian hacking interfering with the election, but we have plenty of proof of Democrat operatives paid by the DNC doing just that by their own words.
You've got to stop spending so much time being indoctrin
Re: Wife (Score:1)
No. I love my wife and I enjoy talking to her.
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Not regulated ... (Score:3)
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"....these would probably not be subject to regulation..."
The same may be said for the Alvarez/Silver adjustable Diopter eyeglasses. As long as they make no claim for _medically_ treating Myopia, they are just as legal as the $4 "Reading" Glasses sold without prescription in Walmarts.
If it just so happens that they actually adjust far into the minus Diopter region as well, not much to worry about, anyway this is _so_ poorly "Documented"...
These Glasses _will_ be made illegal in time; stock up now at Fry's;
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They bear enough of a resemblance to Google Glass that you'd probably get beat up...
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A basic lens is pretty cheap; the cost goes up when you start adding various coatings or have to do special optics (extreme astigmatism, etc.). In fact, the frame ends up being the costliest part of my glasses, because I want ones that look good on me. I find it curious these adjustable glasses don't correct for astigmatism, though I suppose it's because you'd double the price if you had two cylindrical adjustable lenses instead of a spherical one in there.
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Actually, most places where you can get your glasses are actually owned by the same conglomerate. Even your optometrist's place is probably co-managed by the company.
The "designer" frames may have a name attached, but they really only cost a few dollars to make (even the license fee is only a few bucks). And the lenses? Well, they're mass-produced products, so they too cost very little to m
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But if these work as well as advertised, I'm wondering if we will see a lot of hearing impaired chrono-Americans surreptitiously buying these because they do a better job of picking desired sounds out of the auditory slush that surrounds us than the ludicrously overpriced, not-very-good hearing aids the FDA Requires them to use.
Silicon Valley has a major disruption opportunity here.
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As a chrono-American with problems understanding voices when there is a lot of background noise, I'd welcome such technology. I can hear. I just have a problem making out dialog and conversation when there is a lot going on. I really don't want to get a hearing aide for that.
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I've had that as long as I can remember.
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I'm a chrono-American, and I have this problem when there's a lot of background noise: I don't like background noise. I've often joked that I look forward to needing hearing aids, because then I'll be able to turn down the rest of the world whenever I want. No "luck" so far, though.
My late mother got a pair of $5K hearing aids a decade or so ago, but could never get used to them. They had to be programmed by the audiologist who sold them to her, and they didn't even have a volume adjustment. When she put th
Re:telemarketing had "hearphones" 10+ years ago (Score:5, Informative)
My active noise canceling shooting headphones work sort of like this. They get rid of fast attack sounds yet let in ambient sounds. I can adjust the ambient and it makes it so I can hear a pin drop but it screens out a shotgun sound. Really quite nice.
No highs, no lows, it's Bose (Score:1)
Is this because Bose have just discovered that half-deaf people won't notice how terrible their gear is?
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Is this because Bose have just discovered that half-deaf people won't notice how terrible their gear is?
Of course, the irony is that many audiophiles who pooh-pooh Bose often end up caught up in an even more expensive snake oil trap. But yeah, Bose is basically the Apple of the audio world.
Actually, I'm a bit surprised Apple has made no move to buy them out. "Macbook: The only laptop with Bose speakers!"... it pretty much sells itself.
They might have to remove the space bar or something to make room for it, though.
Re:No highs, no lows, it's Bose (Score:4, Interesting)
Have you listened to a pair of 901s made in the 80s? Bose used to make quality gear. Somewhere in the late 90s things took a sharp turn for the worse.
Doesn't terribly surprise me. If true, that's a bit like Pyrex; once you discover you have by far the biggest name recognition (or in fact possibly the only company with significant brand name recognition amongst the general public), the most obvious course of action if you're looking to make a quick buck is to dilute the quality of your product and/or raise the price.
The situation with Pyrex was especially bad because it was basically (but not legally) a genericized trademark. No one wanted to walk around saying "borosilicate glass" once Pyrex switched to soda-lime, so Pyrex got to keep selling "heat-resistant" glass to the ignorant masses who were conditioned to think of Pyrex as being synonymous with heat resistance, even though their products were no longer any different from their cheaper competitors.
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I doubt Pyrex is dead (from a financial standpoint); it still has generic trademark effect for a lot of people, and as I recall they still do produce some boro
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901s are interesting. I wouldn't call them "good" or "accurate", but they're very capable at filling a room with acceptable sound quality.
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And shame on you for using a stock HP keyboard, still better than Dell crap keyboard, but not that good.
As much as I hate to say it, the best I've found is the Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Desktop
(Part #: L5V-00001)
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Better Off with Something Else.
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Bought a Bose Soundlink speaker. Failed in about 3 weeks (Bluetooth crapped out). Over accentuated bass.
Ended up replacing it with a Sony product. After 2 years it's working flawlessly and sounds a whole lot better.
I did like the small size of the Bose but it just didn't work.
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I have to say that I was surprised at the apparent level of bass reproduction from the Soundlink Mini one of my colleagues brought to work last week. I'm sure it's mostly being done by accentuating mid/upper bass frequencies and possibly some psychoacoustics (adding more upper hamonics to bass frequencies, that sort of thing), but it also does move a fair bit of air. It's pretty cool what you can do with Li-ion batteries and class-D amplifier these days.
First Sony walkman had this feature (Score:2)
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Not because I doubt you, but because I'm interested in whatever else such a source might have to reveal.
I've used the Hearphones - very impressed (Score:5, Interesting)
Physically they're a black torc that fits loosely about two thirds around the neck. Attached a bit back from the front opening are two tethered earbuds equipped with Bose's really good tips, which come in three sizes. On the right hand tether is a small remote. On the outside of the earbuds are subtle bronze colored microphones.
Aside from being slightly smaller then other torc-style headphones they're not immediately different. They have their control on a remote, and of course the microphones on the earbuds, but nothing screams out also-for-hearing.
Putting them on in 360 mode was like listening to a live mic through, well, very good headphones. However using the app (we were using iPods) it was easy to control the base and treble to focus on what we were listening for - voices.
It was when the Hearphones were switched into directly-in-front mode they got exciting. In a room full of simulated loud coffee shop noise, and a dozen other demo-ees having conversations with their Bose-partners, it all faded away except for whomever I was facing.
Face this way and I could follow this conversation, face that and the other table came in clearly. For years I've had to position myself strategically in bars, restaurants, clubs and conferences - watching folks to ensure I'm following what they're saying. Suddenly that wasn't a concern.
I don't need hearing aids, and while I've spent some amount of time in loud clubs I've not particularly abused my ears. However coming on 50 years my ears aren't particularly reliable in noisy environments and now, suddenly, everything extraneous was muffled.
Sometimes an advanced technology really is like magic (and a really good demo.)
There's also a everything-in-front-of-you mode (180 degrees vs 360 degrees and about 35 degrees for those keeping track.) That would be for sitting at a table of people facing multiple correspondents.
Of course there's an app; iOS and Android. They apologized several times no Windows Mobile version (nobody looked concerned.) However the remote is intuitively designed and did everything necessary so no needing to be rudely screen-peering in the middle of a conversation. Volume up/down, treble/base, and switching between customizable modes.
The other big demo topic was being able to filter a TV or movie theater. Focus on the center speaker, crank the treble, and suddenly dialog popped - no more scrubbing back for what-just-got-said?
That they're also conventional Bluetooth headphones, with the noise-cancelling Dr. Bose invented, was taken for granted.
So, did I buy them?
Not yet. Their price is reasonable for being top-of-the-line noise cancelling Bluetooth headphones + the Hearphone technology but, a bit rich for me. Right now. However after another chaotic holiday party, a conversation where I mishear something important, or a conference where I'm straining to make out the content - yeah, probably.
Oh and if you're condemned to an "open office" cattle pen oh hella yeah. Selective noise cancelling with a music alternative would almost make those hellholes bearable.
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How much did Bose pay you to make this post?
Re: Single side deafness (Score:2)
I see the perfect business model here... (Score:1)
First sell earphones to damage peoples hearing to the point that they have difficulty with conversation, then sell them the cure to this new problem - great job :)
Why the "sic"? (Score:2)
You can also use them as controllable noise cancelling [sic] wireless headphones for your music or calls or just for quiet.
"Cancelling" is a perfectly acceptable spelling: http://grammarist.com/spelling... [grammarist.com]
I applaud BeauHD's efforts though - it's good to see an editor here paying attention to spelling and grammar.
So hereplus has a competitor now! (Score:1)