With all the new wrist computing power, wouldn't high fidelity microphone arrays on each wrist supersede the attempt to shrink current hearing aid technology?

Bluetooth or another carrier waveform can supply cheap quality earbuds making the ear pieces less important and more easily replaced. The watches would have to compute each others location to mathematically map the ears spacial sound but hearing computing algorithms will be more easily upgraded. Maybe even some server side environmental analysis could help with complex soundscapes and the watches could even show the current time.

So if you are at a concert and waving that glow stick or even punching the air, you will be auditorially better off.
-- wjt, Dec 23 2018

Hearing hands Hearing_20hands
Substantially similar [EnochLives, Dec 24 2018]

Items positioned on the wrist are vulnerable to getting knocked against objects in the environment, resulting in an undesirable noise spike; and clothing brushing agains the unit might be a problem.

Having said that, there is merit in this idea and it deserves further consideration. [+]
-- 8th of 7, Dec 23 2018


//wouldn't high fidelity microphone arrays on each wrist supersede the attempt to shrink current hearing aid technology?

I dunno, would it?
-- not_morrison_rm, Dec 23 2018


As in "WHAT ? WHAT ? SPEAK UP A BIT, CAN'T YOU ? ALL I CAN HEAR IS RUSTLING NOISES" ?
-- 8th of 7, Dec 23 2018


If is cold enough for multiple layers, it is cold enough for ear muffs or a flapped ushanka but I see the point. A watch can be worn exposed on the top layer especially if it has a measurement that one's life depends.

My main idea was that the placement of hands in normal interactions, meeting, dining, and holding drinks at a party would give a closer position to the conversationalist and a wider separation to the background sounds that need to be filtered. Easier for analytical disambiguation

"Why do you have you arms outstretched?". " I'm trying to hear what George is saying to Alicia over there, on that hill".
-- wjt, Dec 23 2018


As text to speech improves, and as AI based transcription of conversation improves you could make the audio very high quality even with the bumps and susurrus of rustling fabric.

The watch would catch the noisy conversation and reinterpret it into a pleasant and very similar to the speaker voice.

This could also be used for high fidelity listening to distant persons.
-- beanangel, Dec 23 2018


// A watch can be worn exposed on the top layer //

Hmmm ... that gives us an idea.
-- 8th of 7, Dec 23 2018


So, keep the microphone at the ears, or on bolts to the neck for the Hallowee- trendy, or even on wearable ears for the furry fans, and let the watch or phone be the brains.
-- RayfordSteele, Dec 24 2018


[RayfordSteele] There would be a double delay penalty. Listening, transmititting, calculating then transmitting again. At least with more complex mics on the hands, there is only calculate and transmit.

This nobody entity is still live and dependent on time. Maybe, a friend of black body.
-- wjt, Dec 24 2018


It would be nice to have a complex waveform that each watch produces, off it's own listening array, that the interference or physical sumation supplies each ear bud with it's clarified signal.
-- wjt, Dec 24 2018


A handy feature would be tapping into the bloke's wrist mic's who is in the front row at the theatre. This way I won't be blocking the view of those even farther back because my arms are in the air trying to hear!
-- tumblewit, Dec 24 2018


Nice, Network all the bought-in audience. Now that's an ampytheatre.
-- wjt, Dec 24 2018


When I was an auto mechanic, working under dashboards always made me wish for an eyeball in the tip of my pinky finger.

Then I would think about what it's like to slam your finger in a door ...
-- normzone, Dec 25 2018


Have done, but I can't seem to remember. I tend to play with and fully feel in the moment.
-- wjt, Dec 25 2018


// wish for an eyeball in the tip of my pinky finger //

It's now possible to purchase a USB camera endoscope for under USD$ 10. Very, very useful in so many applications.
-- 8th of 7, Dec 25 2018


By strange coincidence, I have just indeed purchased a USB endoscope. The main problem is that its focal distance is something like a metre. It would be better if it were (at most) a couple of inches; better yet if it had a small enough aperture to give a large depth of field. I am going to try applying an epoxy-meniscus lens to the end of it to see if it can be improved.

Professional endoscopes seem to keep everything in focus from a fraction of an inch out to six inches or more - I presume this is because they use a high-sensitivity detector and a small aperture.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Dec 25 2018


Also a coincidence, I recently purchased an inexpensive USB endoscope for use as an otoscope in the clinic. Works great for pediatrics. It's focal distance is optimal for 2-10 cm. Search terms, "ear, USB, endoscope". Works with both Android and iOS
-- tumblewit, Dec 26 2018


// It's //

<Gratuitous pedantry>

Gr. "Its"

</Gratuitous pedantry>
-- 8th of 7, Dec 26 2018



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