Psst. Hey kid. Want a lipstick? Huawei slips new earbuds into cosmetics case Marketing strategies have taken an interesting turn for Huawei this week as it launched a wireless noise-cancelling earbud in the Chinese market that is designed to look like a lipstick. The Chinese tech giant announced the Huawei FreeBuds Lipstick last month, hawking it as combining "luxury design with cutting-edge technology …
That no manufacturer has looked at the hearing aid form factor.
Several days of battery life, even whilst streaming, and comfortable enough to wear all day long.
I can even replace the batteries in mine, and they have space for a few buttons on the back.
The capabilities of the in ear drivers are astonishing (136dB if you get* the high volume ones) with pretty damned good frequency response, and with open silicone bits you don't get isolated from what is going on around you (closed cups do more isolation, full on moulded in ear sections are pretty isolating).
* Don't get these unless you actually need them, else you'll rapidly need them.
Agree. I don't need hearing aids, but I'm also surprised that nobody is looking at that form factor. I got a set of high end true wireless earphones for long calls - headsets give me a headache after a couple of hours, and I like wandering around the room. They are nice and comfortable, and the battery does last throughout a meeting.
But something the size of a hearing aid could have a battery that lasts the whole day and then some, it would hang from the top of the ear so the extra weight shouldn't be a problem, and I wouldn't have to do Morse-code-style tap combos on a single button in order to control it. It doesn't even have to be ugly - hell, Razer could make a cyberpunk-looking set, and gamers would flock to it.
For meeting use maybe look at some bone conducting headphones.
I have a pair of airshockz that have an all day battery, hang on the ear, and are all day comfortable.
No use for music listening other than as background music, but because they don't cover or obstruct the ears can listen to music using normal speaker in the room.
Unexpected side effect was even with limited hearing due to a cold can hear fine with them being bone conducting.
That sounds like a good idea.
I hate wearing conventional cans for anything over about half an hour, even my old Pioneer semi-open lightwwight cans were irritating before an album had finished.
Can't stand modern earbuds either so the hearing aid form would be worth a try.
I had a comms set built into one of my crash helmets that was comfortable with really good sound quality but would look odd walking around the house or driving my car with that.
The worlds of earphones and hearing aids appear to converging in some ways. Examples of this include:
-The balanced armature drivers, used in higher end In Ear Monitors (IEMs) were first used in hearing aids.
- Making moulds of a customer's ear canals for custom-fitted earphones is now a more widely available service (including from a well-known chain of UK high street opticians).
- Using a smartphone to control hearing aids.
- Earphones with microphones and DSP ( for noise cancellation... But similar components are required for hearing aids).
There are some which are pretty close to that size. The biggest issue with the one I had (very cheap, similar models now are still about £8-£10) was the appalling bluetooth range - it was lucky if it managed 30cm. Even with the phone in a right chest pocket and earbud in right ear, looking right could lose the connection. This was a good few years ago and hopefully with the latest BT versions they're a bit better.
The actual audio listening quality was pretty acceptable, the microphone pickup was poor but just about understandable at the far end.
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