Smartphone as an alternative to the hearing aid
Tips / / December 19, 2019
While some developers are doing a regular game for pumping money, others use the capabilities of smartphones to the lives of people with hearing impairments become more comfortable and best. Recently, we learned about the team IT4You - these people have developed and continue to refine the technology, thanks to which the smartphone becomes a substitute for the hearing aid, with the development of their use is free. We could not talk about them, because, according to the World Health Organization, every tenth person in the world is faced with problems of hearing impairment.
Wearing a hearing aid, especially in his youth, it is very difficult psychologically. Children with hearing aids teased, and without an explicit expression of negativity toward them they still feel inferior. Girls, perhaps, easier for the hair, but the kid had to endure.
With age, little has changed, because the hearing aid - is an accessory of an old man, but not the 30-year-old man or woman. We have to spend money on more compact, the most subtle and unlike the classic "senile" devices. For the smaller size is sacrificed efficiency, and price increases on the order.
Modern hearing aids - a microcomputer with a microphone and speaker. Chip processes the incoming sound and enhances the necessary frequencies. Set up the device carried out only by a qualified audiologist on the basis of the audiogram hearing in the analysis.
In fact, for the replacement of a hearing aid is required, the combination of microphone, speaker and algorithm changes the sound to compensate for the hearing loss. Smartphone or tablet - perfect candidate. The performance of a modern mobile device is sufficient for complex calculations, and certainly enough for sound processing. In the smartphone and the tablet has a built-in (and often more than one), a microphone, and a stereo headset (often with its own microphone). I had to write an application that would use those resources, and the audiologist will be able to replace a built-in hearing test that reproduces the action specialist at the clinic and tuning algorithm correction.
The development was named "Petralex Hearing Aids"And is available for free download from the App Store, Google Play, as well as applications for a Windows computer.
Price: Free
Price: Free
Yet they have applications for comfortable listening music and radio with hearing impairments, but we will focus on the hearing aid.
The mobile device as a hearing aid is good because he heaped up a system of sound reception. All of these noise reduction and other necessary things, allows you to comfortably talk to people with normal hearing, and will help in situations when you need a clean sound input for further processing. In addition, the application in conjunction with a stereo headset processes and transmits sound in stereo, and the user can choose the most comfortable for a processing and compression algorithm.
The problem of the individual characteristics of the microphone and headset speakers built solved hearing test. In fact, by connecting the headset you plan to use, and began hearing test, the user finally gets algorithm of sound amplification that simultaneously includes both hearing defects, and especially the microphone and speaker headset. However, when you change the headset will have to carry out the test again.
Question to the difference in the noise environment at various locations solved by creation of profiles. Under every Wednesday (subway, street, premises, etc.) created their profile. You just need to test, being in a particular environment, and then save the settings in a separate profile.
It remains to express my respect and gratitude to the developer for creating such a wonderful product.