hearing
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OrCam Hear hands-on: A surprisingly effective voice isolation platform for people with hearing loss
OrCam's latest product is an app that not only reduces background noise in conversations but helps you focus on the voices of people speaking around you.
Eargo 7: The tiny hearing aids you won't need to take out to shower
We've been fans of Eargo's near invisible hearing aids for a while, and the latest model adds water resistance along with some other audio perks.
Ticketmaster knows it has a bot problem, but it wants Congress to fix it
Live Nation president and CFO Joe Berchtold defended Ticketmaster and called on Congress to act to prevent another Taylor Swift fiasco.
How to watch the FTX Congressional hearings
Following his arrest in the Bahamas, it's not clear whether FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried will appear at the House of Representatives hearing.
AI is already better at lip reading than we are
Humans are have never been particularly adept at lip reading, but that hasn't stopped us from training AI to do it with nearly 100 percent accuracy.
FDA greenlights over-the-counter hearing aids
The FDA has issued a rule clearing the way for over-the-counter hearing aids.
Apple faces AirPods lawsuit after an Amber Alert allegedly caused hearing damage
The suit claims the volume spike led to a boy needing a hearing aid for the rest of his life.
Portal users can now bring sign language interpreters into video calls
Meta Portal devices now serve as video relays for hard of hearing people who may need interpreters.
SiriusXM sued over lack of podcast transcripts for the hard of hearing
SiriusXM is facing a lawsuit over the lack of podcast transcripts in its apps, including Pandora and Stitcher.
AirPods Pro can now boost other people's voices during conversations
Keeping your earbuds in while speaking to someone might not be so rude after all.
No one agrees on how to fix Big Tech
Section 230 reform should be a delicate process, but everyone involved is wielding a hammer.
Robinhood and Reddit CEOs to testify at GameStop hearing
Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters has released the list of witnesses for the GameStop House hearing, and it includes Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev, Reddit CEO and co-founder Steve Huffman, as well as Redditor and YouTube streamer Keith Gill, who's also known as Roaring Kitty.
Facebook and Twitter CEOs will testify in Senate hearing after the election
Facebook’s and Twitter’s CEOs, Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey, have voluntarily agreed to attend a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on November 17th.
2020 will bring new ways to upgrade your hearing
If your peepers are letting you down, you have an endless choice of ways to frame that physical defect as a style statement. If you have hearing loss, not so much. Even the term "cool hearing aid" feels like an oxymoron. It's not for lack of trying; companies have attempted to deviate from the "pink plastic blob" for years now -- the result is usually something like a silver, or black plastic blob instead. Why does that matter? Because for whatever reason, there's still a stigma attached to wearing a hearing aid. If companies start making products that are as stylish as they are functional we all win. Fortunately, that's starting to happen, and here are four new ways to upgrade your hearing without it feeling like a penance.
Sonos CEO will testify at a House antitrust hearing next week
A day after his company sued Google for allegedly stealing some of its speaker tech, it emerged Sonos CEO Patrick Spence will testify at an antitrust hearing. The House Antitrust Subcommittee, which is broadly investigating the market dominance of tech giants, will hear from more witnesses next week.
Apple debuts Research app with new iPhone and Watch health studies
Apple has released its Research app and opened up its latest iPhone and Watch health studies, just after the results of its heart-rate project with Stanford emerged. This time around, it's hoping to uncover insights about women's health, heart and movement and hearing.
Next-gen hearing implants could overcome inner ear damage
Many hearing implants won't help people with inner ear damage or auditory nerve problems, but the brainstem implants that do frequently do an incomplete job. Soon, however, there might be a far better solution. Researchers have designed a conformable electrode implant that should more effectively counter inner ear damage. It uses body-safe, resilient platinum for electrodes, but overcomes the metal's usual stiffness thanks to micron-level machining inspired by kirigami paper cutting. Once wrapped in silicone, it's highly conductive but can cling tightly to the auditory brainstem and send more targeted signals than in conventional implants.
Apple’s latest Watch studies cover hearing, hearts and women's health
Apple is expanding its Watch-based health studies in a significant way. The tech giant announced today three new studies that use the Watch (and iOS) to monitor key conditions. A Hearing Study will gauge the effects of long-term exposure to loud noises. A Women's Health Study will look at how menstrual cycles can influence screening for conditions. There's also a new Heart & Movement study that ventures beyond earlier work.
Google brings its hearing assistance app to older Android phones (updated)
Google's app for the hard of hearing is now within reach of many more people. The tech firm's Sound Amplifier app now supports devices running Android 6.0 Marshmallow or later, not just 9.0 Pie like it did months ago. You won't need a relatively cutting edge device to understand a conversation or sound from a TV -- just a decent set of headphones. There's a new look with a visualization feature, too.
Senate panel schedules a hearing on Facebook's cryptocurrency
It didn't even take 48 hours after Facebook announced its cryptocurrency scheme for the government to raise an eyebrow. House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters called for Facebook to halt development, and now the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs has scheduled a hearing to cover both Libra/Calibra and privacy issues. The committee did not list the names of witnesses it plans to call, but Reuters reports that Facebook's blockchain exec David Marcus is expected to testify. Will it be a worthwhile exercise that reveals more information about the plan and digs up useful information about how Facebook will manage the information generated or will it be another embarassing episode of political grandstanding? We'll find out on July 16th at 10 AM ET.
