• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • WordPress
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
Science Update

Science Update

Sharing Science | Satisfying Curiosity | Debunking BS

  • Spotlights
  • Reality Check
  • Why Is It?
  • Radio Archives
  • Sciup @ School
Home » Radio Archive » Daily Show » Hearing Glasses

Hearing Glasses

May 18, 2006
https://podcast.scienceupdate.com/060518_sciup_hear.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window

BOB HIRSHON (host):
Eyeglasses for your ears. I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

[SFX: conversation ambience]

HIRSHON:
A conventional hearing aid, in a noisy room like this:

[ambience, low volume]

HIRSHON:
…can sound like this:

[same ambience, high volume]

HIRSHON:
…which isn’t much help when you’re following a conversation. That’s why researchers at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands have developed a new hearing aid that amplifies nearby sounds, but suppresses background noise. Acoustic scientist Riinus Boone says the system uses four microphones spaced out over three inches. That’s too big to cram in your ear, so Boone’s team installed them in the earpieces of eyeglasses.

RIINUS BOONE (Delft University of Technology, Netherlands):
You can hide the microphones there; nobody sees that you are wearing a hearing aid with a huge microphone. And that’s why we decided to do that.

HIRSHON:
The hearing glasses are available now in the Netherlands, with international distribution on the horizon. I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society.

Category: Daily ShowTag: Acoustics & Sound
Previous Post:Primitive Ape-Man
Next Post:Avian Flu Roundup

Sidebar

Radio Program Archives

Want to learn more about the brain? The environment? Here you can browse the topics that come up regularly on Science Update.

Search the Archives

Categories

  • Daily Show
  • Station Download
  • Weekly Show

Find By Tag

  • 2020
  • Acoustics & Sound
  • Aging
  • Animal Behavior
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Astronomy & Space
  • Biology
  • Brain Science
  • Bugs
  • Chemistry
  • Children & Families
  • cicadas
  • Climate & Weather
  • Communications
  • Computer Science
  • Economics & Business
  • Education
  • Energy
  • Engineering & Technology
  • Environment & Conservation
  • Genetics & Evolution
  • Geology
  • Marine Science
  • Materials Science
  • Mathematics
  • Medicine & Health
  • Microbiology
  • Nanotechnology
  • Nutrition & Food Science
  • Paleontology & Dinosaurs
  • Physics
  • Plants & Agriculture
  • Political Science
  • Reality Check
  • Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • Sports & Fitness
  • spotlight
  • Spotlight Bugs
  • Terrorism & War
  • Why Is It? Questions
  • Wildlife
  • Year in Review

Find By Date

Science Update
  • About Science Update
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

Mayan Honeybee hives
House sparrow wearing top hat rides aboard a red fireworks rocket

Copyright © 2023 · Springtail Media LLC · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Pongos