Audio Devices Give New Options to Those Hard of Hearing - NYTimes.com

Richard Einhorn, a composer who suddenly lost much of his hearing two years ago, relies on his hearing aid, of course, for general use. But when he is meeting friends at a busy coffee shop — where his hearing aid is not always good at distinguishing their voices amid the clatter — he removes it. He has a better solution.

He pops on a pair of in-ear earphones and snaps a directional mike on his iPhone, which has an app to amplify and process sound.

“I put the iPhone on the table,” he said. “I point it at whoever’s talking, and I can have conversations with them. Soon we forget the iPhone is sitting there.”

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A new version of the directional microphone Mr. Einhorn uses, Blue Mikey, is available for $99.99. One app he uses is soundAMP R, which is $4.99. For earphones, he likes the in-ear Etymotic hf5, at $149.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/06/technology/audio-devices-give-new-options-to-those-hard-of-hearing.html?src=me&ref=general

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