Just a guess, as I only know a little about hearing aids, but maybe it's to measure the acoustic properties of the ear canal to be able to dynamically reproject the frequency spectrum of incoming sound to bands that the ear in question can actually hear.
Yes. There is research dealing e.g. with ear canal-based authentication. Other earables (Omnibuds by Nokia Bell Labs http://omnibuds.tech/) use the inward-facing microphone to detect the sound of the heartbeat. With this (plus a PPG sensor) they can estimate blood pressure (after calibration).
On thing that I've read about is ear based EEG. Easier simpler contact for things like sleep studies. They don't list that as supported, but it is an example.
Though they never explicitly confirmed, I think some of this of tech was what enabled the dynamic and personalised equalisation adjustment in Nura headphones.
One of them is authentication, or at least in principle. Seems somehow much less dystopian than the eye thing Altman's doing, but I can't exactly put my finger on why that is...
From the paper[1] since the website fails to explain this (!):
> Earables are ear-worn devices that offer functionalities beyond
basic audio in- and output. In this paper we present the ongoing de-
velopment of a new, open-source, Arduino-based earable platform
called OpenEarable. It is based on standard components, is easy to
manufacture and costs roughly $40 per device at batch size ten.
> We demonstrate the versatility of the prototyping
platform through three different example application scenarios.
The three example apps are:
> Measuring motion on the ear is a common application in the earable
space which can be used for a number of applications
> A popular ear canal pressure application is the detection of jaw
motions
> It is possible for the ultrasonic microphone to pick up an inaudible
signal from the speaker. This information can be used to understand
the shape of the ear canal because the sound is reflected differently
depending on the shape, a principle which can be used for authentication
The paper also mentioned ClearBuds[1] which looks interesting too.
It seems like they are going a long way out of their way to not have to say "hearing aids".
Prescription hearing aids are expensive, and they aren't just amps that make sounds "louder". An open source hearing aid project, if it could dramatically reduce the price, could be a huge benefit to a lot of people.
I guess that’s because hearing aids is a restricting term and these are more versatile. Furthermore, probably calling them “hearing aid” would lead to costly clinical regulation that they cannot afford as an open-source research device.
I would also highly recomment rather getting actual hearing aids if you want those. The audio part is not quite the focus.
Cool to see them pop up here, as my colleague Tobi built them here at our lab and is now pushing a spin off.
Actually to get an impression what is possible with ear sensing I am still fascinated by this application Tobi did before building openearable, which uses in ear muscle contraction for doing interaction (next song, etc):
They are right that hearing aids aren't the only app for this platform though.
For example, AirPod Pros have a motion sensor. I'd love to build an app that uses this to fuse with video for a bouldering analysis thing I work on in my spare time.
Pretty sure these are for scientific use, not personal. I mean, just look at it compared to modern hearing aids -- can you imagine trying to lay down with that in your ear? Plus, literally all of the copy I've found so far is about the value it will bring to researchers (/ear-based crypto engineers), not patients
Do you need one for left and one for right ear, or just one of either?
If just one of either, how do you decide which one to get?
On the one hand, if I am right handed, I might find it more easy to quickly take it on and off if it's on the right side. But at the same time, that would also mean that whenever I answer my phone I'd also have to take it out first. Unless it can also be paired with the phone and used when answering calls.
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[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 53.4 ms ] threadWhat is the inward-facing ultrasonic microphone for?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ear-EEG
http://omnibuds.tech/ (Both from Nokia Bell Labs)
And a literature review from the designer of the OpenEarables: https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3550314
https://auracleproject.files.wordpress.com/2018/08/bi-ubicom...
https://auracle-project.org/
> Earables are ear-worn devices that offer functionalities beyond basic audio in- and output. In this paper we present the ongoing de- velopment of a new, open-source, Arduino-based earable platform called OpenEarable. It is based on standard components, is easy to manufacture and costs roughly $40 per device at batch size ten.
> We demonstrate the versatility of the prototyping platform through three different example application scenarios.
The three example apps are:
> Measuring motion on the ear is a common application in the earable space which can be used for a number of applications
> A popular ear canal pressure application is the detection of jaw motions
> It is possible for the ultrasonic microphone to pick up an inaudible signal from the speaker. This information can be used to understand the shape of the ear canal because the sound is reflected differently depending on the shape, a principle which can be used for authentication
The paper also mentioned ClearBuds[1] which looks interesting too.
[1] https://open-earable.teco.edu/OpenEarable.pdf
[2] https://clearbuds.cs.washington.edu/
Prescription hearing aids are expensive, and they aren't just amps that make sounds "louder". An open source hearing aid project, if it could dramatically reduce the price, could be a huge benefit to a lot of people.
Cool to see them pop up here, as my colleague Tobi built them here at our lab and is now pushing a spin off.
Actually to get an impression what is possible with ear sensing I am still fascinated by this application Tobi did before building openearable, which uses in ear muscle contraction for doing interaction (next song, etc):
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dPTCJ4lt4CE
For example, AirPod Pros have a motion sensor. I'd love to build an app that uses this to fuse with video for a bouldering analysis thing I work on in my spare time.
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/coremotion/cmheadp...
If just one of either, how do you decide which one to get?
On the one hand, if I am right handed, I might find it more easy to quickly take it on and off if it's on the right side. But at the same time, that would also mean that whenever I answer my phone I'd also have to take it out first. Unless it can also be paired with the phone and used when answering calls.