I have a need for a hearing aid application.

Quite simply, I want to stick my earphones in my ears[1] and plug them into my N900, place it in the middle of the table in front of me and for an app to amplify the sound picked up from the N900's microphone and play it through the headphones.

Even better is if I can use my bluetooth headphones, so I can be further away from the device than is convenient with wired headphones.

Mono only, please - I don't know if the mic on the N900 is stereo or not, but if it is, the sounds should be mixed to mono for obvious reasons (I suppose this could be optional).

Regards,

Max.

[1] in my case, just one since only one of my ears works

Have you tried a T-LINK ?

Do you have a digital or analogue aid?.

Well, I was wanting to not have to use my hearing aid at all; but, since you ask, I don't know if it is analog or digital. It's very small, and programmable (though you need special kit [and expertise]), so I guess it's digital. It has Phonak Art written on it.

A few days ago I tried the Nokia LPS-5 (basically sort of an audio bluetooth->loop bridge), and, in general, found it next to useless. It has a mic on it, but it only works when you have a phone call (presumably to give some 'presence' in case of danger or something). Furthermore, when attempting to listen to music, I had to hold the loop (which goes around my neck) really close to the hearing aid in order to get anything at all, and when I did, the quality was aweful.

My problem is more about frequency response than volume (large high frequency deficiency), plus I'm not able to understand people in front of me if people are talking (or otherwise making noise) behind/around me. If my hearing was really poor, perhaps the hearing aid would be of move benefit, but as it is, it is only of benefit in some circumstances (mostly one-to-one conversations), and meetings isn't one of them.

Looking at this T-Link, I suppose it's worth a try, but I would have thought that my doctor (an audio specialist) would have suggested it if it would be of any benefit.

In any case, I think that an audio application would be simple enough to do, for someone who has this sort of experience already

I do sympathise with you here and i can for sure throw some light on this because like you i have tried many useless devices to be rewarded with no success hardly at all.

You might like to try one of the hearing aid centres that do have a good range of devices because there is always something that will suit you somewhere along the line.

I dont know what kind of deafness you have if it is middle or inner ear probs but i can tell you that if you have any success with in the ear headphones it will be possible to get one of the very cheap in the ear headsets with a mic to work for you, the problem of course being if you are totally deaf in one ear it would have to be mono output to the working ear.

People just dont realise that hearing aid users especially those that only hear or use one aid can only get the sound in that hole and one ear does not give you directional sound but everything in one mixed up noise from all around you lol.

Loops are useless by the way as the rf output from the mobile only makes the damm thing buzz like mad as you will very know !.

Well, you're ahead of me then since I've only had one (IMO) completely useless one and that's the Nokia LPS-5. My actual hearing aids are of mixed usefulness

Unless I want to pay for it myself, I have to go with what the specialist says. I have an appointment to try some kind of 'put-it-on-the-table' device and it transmits to my hearing aid, but I don't think work will like that because it could transmit the conversation to outside and leak all our highly secret secrets

Well, my deaf ear is completely deaf...nerves dead or something (possibly mumps when I was young). My 'good' ear is only deaf in the high frequencies, so it is only noticeable with certain things/people.

I don't quite understand. I've not heard (pun intended) of such a thing...do you have a reference?

Indeed, though perhaps that would be fine in an regular situation. It's only really with music that it's a problem, and then only when the artists get creative with multi-track recording (I only hear half of "little-high, little-low" in Bohemian Rhapsody, for example)...I'm of the generation that likes '70s music and they liked to do such things then :/

Well, I find it's not even as simple as that. The brain seems to do something a lot more complicated than one might think...it can automatically filter based on direction. Amazing really.

Also, I *can* tell the difference between direction when I think about it - I can only assume that the difference is much more slight than with two ears My theory is that the shape of the ear gives clues by changing the sound in some way based on direction.

Well, I wasn't expecting to use it for phone calls, but I suppose SMSes and the like probably have the same effect :/ I didn't notice that when I was trying the LPS-5 - perhaps it does something clever...

Anyway, I still think there is quite a bit of value in having some s/w on my N900 that will just replay the sound from the microphone over the headphones (bluetooth or not). Do you agree?

Max.

That is quite a mouthful to digest ha and the biggest problem is everyone is different so my suggestions are not going to mean they will work for you.

the in the ear headphones are the ones that actually go into the outer ear canal as opposed to covering the earhole but if you have tone problems even that will give you problems as you would have to have converted sounds in frequencie to be able to actually hear them.

I know you say your completely deaf in one ear but have you ever tried an in the ear headphones to see if you can actually hear anything even by sounds being transmitted via the bone to the inner ear ?.

I personally can reccomend anything that actually goes into the ear canal as that will get the sound closer to the ear drum.

Yeah, I find the 'phones that come with the N900 quite good, but I also have a range of other ones, like some Sennheisers.

I also have some Senn HD-25s which are excellent.

All those I have no problem with in any respect (well, apart from the mono/stereo thing and having to have the other 'speaker' even though I don't use it for anything).

Well, I've had 101 hearing tests. They're never '0' because of this very effect - ie the sound is so loud that I hear it with my good ear through my head

Yeah. My hearing aid has a small tube that goes into the ear and just amplifies the high frequencies, supposedly to make it flat overall. It's a subtle effect - more subtle than I like, perhaps.
I had a couple of months with an ear-mould too, and that made much more effect, but not very natural and the mould was somewhat inconvenient to take out and put back in again.

The specialist said that my case is a difficult one because the hearing is effected only slightly....for more serious cases, it's much easier for her to do something effective.

I'm still curious if you think there is some space for a s/w solution along the lines of my original post...perhaps you think it wouldn't be much use to people who have a more serious problem hearing than I do?

I can imagine someone knocking something up using python (or something) that would at least let me try it out, but it would be a bit of a steep learning curve for me at this point.

Max.

I cannot advice you personally because you have a personal hearing loss specific to youself so only trial and effort will gain results.

You never said if the bone transmission on the deaf ear worked or not but if it does then for sure you have something to gain by considering a bone transplant in that side for hearing all round.

Yes moulds are uncomfortable to start with but with time they become very natural to the point you dont notice at all and glad of the hearing gain.

Sounds to me like you could do with some kind of equaliser software wise to get the sound to the right frequencies you can hear, only a suggestion but am sure it is worth a try.

Well, I didn't really intend on this turning into an advice column interesting and potentially helpful though it has been.

I (think I) know what I want already and that is s/w I can run on my N900 that can reproduce the sound from the phone's microphone and play it into the headphones. Amplification is good and an equalizer might be even better too, but I already have headphones that sound great as they are (I guess they sound a bit bright to most people?), no matter what I listen to, so I'm not 100% sure that I would bother with an equalizer.

I really just wanted to specify something simple since it would be easier to do.

Thanks,

Max.