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randlet

For what it's worth, this tech has been available in hearing aids for a long time already. I carry a remote that can:

* switch my hearing aids between 5 different programs depending on the environment.

* play "fractal" like tones to combat my tinnitus

* adjust the volume including muting the outside world

* play music from anything with a 3.5mm jack (bluetooth also available)

* hear calls from my phone

* probably more I'm forgetting

If it wasn't for the being hearing impaired part, having hearing aids is pretty cool :)

It looks like Bose is trying to bring this technology to a bigger market which is cool.

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I think (or rather I hope) that it's the price tag and ease of acquiring them that makes this special.

I have wished to friends and to a couple people like me for a hearing aid for hyper-vigilant people. Something that turned down the entire world, except for human speech, by 10-20 dB. I have my fingers crossed that these Bose devices can be re-purposed for this, just by turning down the gain to near ambient, so I can finally have some fucking peace and quiet.

Then maybe I won't think these open seating environments are the worst development in software for the last twenty years...

My dad has tinnitus and pretty bad hearing (was a rock drummer in the 70's) but he found the hearing aids he got (they were at least a few thousand $ or more) made everything sound very digital/tinny and it was unnatural enough that he stopped wearing them. I wonder if these will sound any more or less natural than a nice set of hearing aids.

The older you get, probably the tougher it is to adapt too. Wearing hearing aids is very strange for the first little while since you're hearing all kinds of strange things again. For me everything seemed sharper/harsher initially but that's just because it all had been so muted for so long! It took me months of continuous wearing to get used to the sound so that it now sounds unatural to not be wearing them. He really needs to put them in when he wakes up and take them out for the shower/going to bed and thats it. If he only wears them occassionally, he'll probably never get used to them (my dad/grandpa had the same problem).

His audiologist can also set him up with a "training" program in his hearing aids that softens the amplification while he's getting used to them and after a few months go back to a more normal program. If he's not happy, have him talk to his audiologist...high end devices are highly tunable!

Thanks a lot for the info/advice. I will definitely share. He was wondering if a small directional speaker attached to some part of the ear that allowed the natural sound to just be augmented by an amplified speaker would be better than blocking the whole ear from natural sound and replacing with digital. I wonder what the "digital" effect of these Bose headphones will be. I would expect that they are inferior to hearing aids that have been under development for eons but maybe it will be a different approach that addresses different problems.

I had basically the same problem, but was unable to adapt. I got my hearing aid when I was 17 or 18. Everything sounded tinny and harsh, and my hearing in my left ear is more or less normal.

I guess the bigger problem was that putting it in my ear made me very dizzy, but I'd have tried to deal with that if the sound weren't so bad.

What do hearing aids with those feature cost? I feel like even premium Bose products would be cheap in comparison

Yes, they're expensive. I think I payed $6000 total for 2 hearing aids with a 3 year service contract and expect them to last 5-6 years (possibly longer). You can certainly get cheaper ones though without all the bells and whistles. You're right though, Bose is going to have to come in way below that price ;)

Thanks for the response. What kind of ongoing service do they require that a service contract would be desired?

I have a degenerative hearing disease called otosclerosis so my hearing changes pretty frequently. My contract includes yearly adjustments to change the amplification vs frequency curve of the aids to compensate for my personal hearing loss profile, and free batteries for 3 years (zinc-air batteries that last ~5 days).

I've been amazed for a long time at the cost of hearing aids. Surely the tech is not that costly nor that specialised? How much do those $6k devices cost to make, I can't imagine it's even a 10th of the sale price?

I mentioned it in another post, but my guess is that it's due to insurance companies footing the bill (and government subsidies in Canada) so they can get away with charging more.

I'll second the pricing - you can figure around $3,000 per ear, plus another $500-$1,000 for the premium accessories. Price varies of model and included services, but that's the ballpark, as is the 5-6 year lifespan if well cared for (I had older analog aids that could last 10+ years and even survived submersion in water. Digital, not so much).

> play "fractal" like tones

What does that sound like?

It's called Widex Zen. Here's a sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqWMa7fEH-4

I'm not sure if it's actually fractal like in nature (hence the quotes around fractal); it's just somewhat random tones that help distract your brain from the tinnitus sound. I like it, but in situations where my tinnitus is bad (quiet rooms) I usually opt to have music on instead.

Are those hearing aids linked together like the hearphones are? It seems to me that a large part of being able to cut down on ambient noise and boost local conversation is because local conversation is more directional than ambient noise.

Do you think they'd be worth getting just for the ambient noise cutting abilities alone? My daughter has complete hearing loss in one ear and normal functionality in the other. Normally she's fine, but in a crowd she's completely lost.

Mine are not linked and don't have real direction control but you can definitely get aids with that capability. It's certainly worth a shot. I'm not sure if she's wearing ha's yet, but many places will let you try a pair for 30 or 60 days to see if she likes them.

I would probably find it annoying to swap out my ha's for the hearphones regularly, but might be worth the annoyance if it allows here to converse more normally!

This sounds like something I need, what technology are you using, is this doctor recommendation equipment?

It's built into my hearing aids (Widex Dream 440's). I decided with my audiologist what the best features would be for me!

Can you share a link? I know someone who could really use the help

I use Widex Dream 440's[1] (superseded by the Unique 440's I think) but all of the major players (Siemens, Widex, etc) offer these features.

[1] http://www.ziphearing.com/blog/widex-dream-440-review/

Thanks a lot!

Wow the pricing is amazing (think: price of 2016 MBP 15"). Is this due to the way healthcare equipment pricing works?

2016 MBP per ear!!! I'm not sure why the price is so high but I suspect it has to do with insurance companies footing the bill a lot of the time. I know Costco now offers hearing aids at cheaper prices but I don't have experience buying from them.

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