I have Live Transcribe on an Android phone. Can anyone suggest a good SIMPLE program for Apple for a woman who just wants to see the current discussion on the phone.
She is not interested in keeping a record or printing anything. I know nothing about the Apple system.
Thanks
I actually don’t recommend using the hearing aid microphone for STT
Thanks for the answer.
She has aids that work with bluetooth and uses a Phonak Roger microphone with Apple. She is looking for the visual text to speech program for certain situations and NALscrible looks ideal. Thanks
I can look at brief descriptions on the Apple app store on my Linux laptop but other than that I have no access or practice with the Apple ecosystem. I live in an active retirement complex and there are quite a few people here with bad hearing. For some reason many more use Apple than Android even though they only use basic programs.
Regards
NALscribe now installed and recipient is very enthusiastic about the result
Thanks
I’ve had my Lumity for about 8 weeks. Due to holidays and just being busy, I could go back to have them adjusted. Couldn’t hear anything until I did some DIY, and even then couldn’t use the automatic programs until I did some more DIY. Similar to the issues I had with my Widex, I’m just getting way too much of the upper midrange, and not enough lows. I see what @tenkan said above about this, but I’m not a new user. What I experience is a whole lot of loud sound that I can’t make sense of, which drowns out the lower frequencies. It’s like listening to people with loud, high pitched squealing and static. I’m not sure what the fix is. I mostly just flattened the gain curve, which helped.
Are you sure you are using the right receivers and domes? Maybe for your loss you need a more closed setup. i get tons of bass with my Lumity’s.
Jordan
Yes, it’s not about how much bass the aid can put out, it’s about how much bass the fitting is giving me. I went to the audiologist, and she adjusted. Better now, but not perfect. Streaming is still too midrange focused. Also I’m getting massive feedback when using my USB headset at work. Wasn’t a problem in the past.
No bass and massive feedback is a strong indication that you need a more closed (i.e. better sealing) fit. Just my opinion but maybe someone else can chime in.
Jordan
I found the bass very good with the Lumitys, too, and I was only wearing slim-tipped, minimally vented domes of some sort. Given slance66’s audiogram, slance66 should be wearing a fairly occlusive fit to prevent the bass amplification needed to compensate for his loss from leaking out of the ear canals.
On wearing a headset, I also find at times on wearing a headlamp or a headset that I get more feedback. Part of this, besides sound leaking out of the ear canals that you could better trap with better fitting, minimally vented molds, could just be that the strap or support for your headset is coming close to the external mics on the Lumity bodies and providing a more reflective surface than hair or skin to bounce sound coming out of your ear canals back towards the external mic pickups. Same with headphones with ear cups, if that’s the problem. Perhaps you can better position your headset relative to the Lumitys and lessen feedback, even as to the exact position of any earcups over your ears. Maybe an “on-the-ear” earcup would work better than an “over-the-ear” earcup if you use earcups and switch out the size or style of earcups on your headset.
Mine fit pretty snugly and are minimally vented. But when I used unvented power domes I had occlusion and a painful or at least uncomfortable suction effect. It wasn’t a volume issue, it’s that if midranges and highs are too loud relative to bass, I can’t really understand speech. It’s drowns out what I can hear.
BTEs with silicone earmolds will give you better low frequency support.
Tried a different headset and it was better. So I also ordered a new one to try. I’m on PC based calls much of the day. Both of the ones I have are “on the ear” but there was a difference. You may be right about how they react to straps or pads, but I used that headset for years with no feedback. I also tried unvented power domes and it had no impact on feedback. Every dome was about the same.
Perhaps the different positions of the microphones on the Lumity, its shape and material composition (reflectivity, etc.) is enough to make a difference.
@JordanK Two new mind bogglers to report–I went to a noisy bar with my husband who has normal hearing. He was sitting across from me at the table. I could hear everything he was saying, but he asked me several times to repeat what I was saying. Finally I asked him if it was noisy. I could barely hear the noise in the bar, but could hear everything he was saying, and he couldn’t hear me! WOW!
Next was Subway (sandwiches). I have always had trouble hearing the person making the sandwich when I order because of the plastic partition between us. I always rely on the fact that I’ve been there countless times and I have memorized the order of their questions–bread? Cheese? Toasted? etc. This time I could actually hear what they were asking! Such a small thing, but big to me because it’s been decades since I’ve been to Subway and have been able to hear when I place my order!
Hi @jonifoz
That’s exactly what I am experiencing. Every single day I hear something weird and I realize that it’s not weird…it’s just something I haven’t heard in a while. Its ranges from mechanical noises in the house to people speaking behind me, etc. It’s not always perfect. The biggest challenge so far seems to be situations where there are multiple people speaking in close proximity. The Lumity hearing aids can deal really well with background noise and clatter in a restaurant but if there are multiple conversations going on really close to me, the Lumity hearing aids aren’t sure which conversation is the one I want to focus on and it usually picks the loudest speakers.
I’m now almost 5 months using the Lumity hearing aids and I am still super happy. I have worn hearing aids for many years and have cycled back and forth between Resound and Phonak. I can honestly say that the Lumity hearing aids are a cut above anything else I have tested or purchased. They are spectacular.
Even the rechargeable batteries haven’t been as big of an issue as some on this discussion forum have made them out to be. They do last at least 18 hours each day and once or twice a week I have to drop them into the charger for 30 minutes if I have had a very heavy streaming day. Not all types of streaming chew the batteries. The fastest drain occurs when you are streaming Teams/Zoom/Skype calls where you are listening and talking at the same time. This is the biggest battery hog. When you are just listening to audio on your iPhone or watching TV through the TV Connector, they drain quite a bit slower. The other trick is to TURN OFF bluetooth on devices when you are not listening to them. This seems to save battery power too.
Very happy Lumity is working out for you. Keep posting observations.
Jordan
Hi @JordanK. I have had Starkey, Resound, and Siemens over 30+ years. I agree, nothing compares to my Lumity aids. I consider the rechargeable batteries a convenience. I watch TV through the TV Connector, and I don’t do near as much streaming as you do. I have never come close to draining the batteries empty, but I do notice more of a drain on days I leave my bluetooth on, even if I’m not using it.
I love seeing your updates and hearing about your discoveries.
Joni
Just to inject some other reality into the discussion, when I was trialing both the Lumitys and the Omnias, my wife and I had dinner in a VERY noisy Chili’s bar with ~bare surfaces everywhere. We sat at a high bar table on high bar chairs in the center of the bar with a speaker constantly blaring directly overhead and lots of clatter of dishes and silverware and conversations in the background everywhere. So I’d say the signal-to-noise ratio was very bad. If I sat next to my wife (around a corner of the table, two connected sides), I could hear her with either hearing aid reasonably well. If I sat across the small table, about 3 to 4 feet away, I couldn’t hear her very well with either set of hearing aids in my ears. I wasn’t wearing occlusive molds for the Lumitys. That might have helped them do better and ensure better directionality. I think that’s a sine qua non for great hearing in noisy situations if you have good low-frequency hearing, as I do.
I think if you really are going to be in a very difficult noise situation with any brand of hearing aid, there’s no escaping that you will need a remote mic. Anyone who doubts that should view Dr. Cliff’s videos on how a remote mic can provide a SNR enhancement of up to 25, whereas an SNR enhancement of beyond 5 to 8 or so for HA’s gets dicey. All these reports are subjective in that the exact noise situation is not nailed down, but I’d certainly say in the Chili’s restaurant situation, I was up at the level that no HA could deal with the noise in that bar. (it would be interesting to see how real-time AI processing of sound such as discussed in the following thread: Restoring speech intelligibility for hearing aid users with deep learning can handle such situations. Perhaps that considerably enhances the inherent SNR limits of HA’s). The hearing tracker ratings of how various HA models handle speech in noise also provide another opportunity where you can actually listen to the test recordings of various brands and get a sense of how relatively good any one brand might be without actually trialing the brand (the best way in the end).
Yes, I understand the point that there is a limit in terms of SNR that current technology cannot help with. However, there are improvements with every iteration of a HA. I think these improvements help - and they matter. 25 years ago I could not go into a bar (with analog instruments). If music was on louder than 70DB everything was drowned out. 15 years ago, it was possible, but a struggle and I could not make out speech with clarity. 5 years ago it was a lot better, speech was delivered with clarity but I still had problems in noise. Now, it is a lot lot better. Yes, if it is 80DB and I am in a group - it is not a solution, but I can at least talk to people side by side or in front of me - even if I struggle with the group. As Jordan says, the HA cannot zone in on the talker of interest.
I am excited but I am also sceptical about hearing tracker ratings - because I don’t yet understand how they model the real world scenarios and how they know how to interpret the efficacy of each aid in terms of what comprehension will be delivered. It’s one thing to remove noise, but if the signal of interest is also removed, then comprehension doesn’t result. Therefore for me, anecdotal reports, subjective as they are, are very important.
If deep learning restores intelligibility then those who came up with it should be given the Nobel prize for science. That would be amazing.!
According to Abram, the hearing tracker ratings are based on a human reviewer listening to the BEFORE and AFTER recordings. But still, there is quite a bit of subjectivity and relative memory (and good hair day, bad hair day attitudes?). I still like the idea of being able to hear the BEFORE and AFTER recordings (can’t remember the exact setup).
Seems like Lumity (and Omnia) both do a good job of removing noise when there is a single speaker. The issue I’ve noticed is that the directional microphones get mixed up when there are multiple conversations going on from different directions. Dr. Cliff should try testing both of these scenarios with his testing setup. First test being one speaker in noise with the speaker standing in different positions around the test dummy. Second scenario should be multiple speakers standing around the test dummy while there is noise in the background. This is the true “torture test” for all hearing aids and is the best estimate of how the hearing aids will perform in crowded restaurants.
The interesting thing is that my old Phonak Audeo Q hearing aids had StereoZoom 1.0 which basically focused the front microphones narrow and forward when in extreme noise. That meant you had to be looking at the speaker for the hearing aids to be effective in extreme noise. The new version of AutoSense 5.0 is way more sophisticated in that the microphones can now move dynamically in noise to allow you to focus on conversations coming from the side or back. This works fantastic provided there isn’t another loud speaker nearby speaking from a different direction. It solves the issue of hearing someone sitting beside/behind you in a noisy environment (i.e. driving in the car or talking to someone on public transit). It just gets mixed up with there are two or more loud speakers with their speech coming from different directions.
Jordan
Jordan… I’m glad the lumitys are working out for “YOU” … Please do not say that myself and the others who have voiced there displeasure over battery life have made a bigger deal out the rechargeable batteries than should be… because in my honest opinion the lumity battery life is FAR below what it should be compared to other brands… also you have a routine that fits your lifestyle and in previous posts you have said you put your HA’s back in charger everyday for about 30 minutes and now you say only once or twice a week… which is it… this forum is to discuss ALL the good and bad of each brand of HA not to nitpick about others who disagree with you …