February 23, 2005
MarkBernstein.org
 

reSound

I've got the new hearing aids. They cost a fortune. They've got tons of settings, but you have to take them back to the audiologist and get them programmed (through the smallest ribbon cables I've ever seen).

They're much too expensive, but it's a seller's market. It's nice to hear more.

Interesting bit of fieldwork on installation: each device is calibrated in situ. They put a little microphone inside your ear canal. They put another on your collar. They plunk a speaker on the table, and play harmonic-rich square waves at you. Result: the computer can sort out actual gain and frequency response curves, right in the ear, under actual operating conditions, without calibrating the microphones and using Radio Shack speakers for the sound source.

Clever engineering.