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Ask HN: Bluetooth non earphone speaker for highly sensetive?

3 points by vitalipom ↗ HN
Hi A part of my job qualification, in the description as well, is to support others. 1000 programmers with sort of Google questions they cannot find answers for online. Screen and typing at certain period become extremely fatile for me in this, causing big fatigue. Frontally I can help anyone but we all work in cubicles as you know, I am coding too so 100% meeting room is not an option. Questions sometimes become very frequent and answers do remove lots of obstacles to the teams. Teleporting to everyone is not an option too. Ear or anything that touches the skin especially for long period such as earbud creates a high sensitivity with something that looks like an allergy reaction sooner or later.

Apple Watch has perfect speaker which does not disturb for such phone calls, but it’s an on hand device. Is there anything for T Shirts which can be both a mic and a low level speaker?

13 comments

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eimrine
I would like to have a giant stereo on a minimal volume and a regular mic. What's more interesting to me is maintaining an audio channel with 1000 users.
vitalipom
16 giant speakers low volume and lights

Skazi is a relative of a friend of mine, not me. I’m another guy :)

I’m DevOps, providing lots of support in between my daily tasks. Not streaming etc.

houseatrielah
Bone-conducting headphones still touch the skin, so idk if it will help?
vitalipom
My skin really reacts very badly already on any ear/neck/head/tooth touching things :))
walterbell
Small smartphone like iPhone SE1 (speakers + echo-cancelling mics) mounted on a boom mike stand , e.g. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07V2FJL54/
vitalipom
Yeah aahh the issue with that is that I need to stuck to the table station and not move my head and it feels like paralyzed.
walterbell
In speakerphone mode, iPhone will pick up clean audio from a distance of several feet. Anywhere in the cubicle should work. It would be less restrictive than a headset cable.

Polycom desktop speakerphone would have more range, but it's larger and you'll risk picking up audio from neighboring cubicles.

If you want something more precise, use a small directional microphone, e.g. Rode has one that plugs directly into an iPhone, https://www.apple.com/shop/product/HMG72ZM/A/røde-microphone...

vitalipom
You know what let me try my iPhone, maybe lowering the volume enough would do the trick indeed.

The issue is the speaker btw not the mic. I want(ed) it to be outside of my ear as in the bluetooth wearable headsets though.

warrenm
Might a bone-conduction headset work for you?

Something like this, perhaps - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09BVXT8TJ?

(That's merely one example - I know several folks that use similar headphones when biking or running so they can still hear traffic/warnings/etc)

vitalipom
Not a matter of sportsmanship dear, I use it constantly 365 days a week because people have questions and most of the times this 15 seconds talk solves the bottleneck. It’s a part of my job. But constant touch of plastics at the same place caused my skin sort of allergy after 20 years (I was listening to music before I started using the Bluetooth headsets).
warrenm
I recognize it's not sportsmanship - I'm merely relaying who I know that uses them and why ;)

Hence suggesting it may work for you