“Today, we bring to you the Starkey Neuro Processor, our industry’s most advanced processor technology,” said Bhowmik. “The determining factor of processing power in the human brain is the neuron. In processor chips, it’s the transistor. Based on advanced semiconductor technology, the Starkey Neuro Processor features 600% more transistors than our previous-generation chipset.”
Ummm. a transistor is nothing like a neuron. That entire statement is a non-sequitur. here’s what seems accurate: the processor has a lot more transistors. That doesn’t make it into a ‘neuron processor’. Oh and by the way claiming that neurons ‘process’ information is itself a misunderstanding: it starts with what computers and trasistors do and then models the human brain on that. Our brains aren’t just computers with a lot more transistors than actual computers have. Biology isn’t hardware. Ah well, most folks believe this garbage.
I had to read well down into the article before seeing what I expected: this new platform may one day allow for better discrimination for hearing in noisy environments. The whole AI wowza stuff is really a lot of hype. That’s my take.
I studied a bit of the specs in the StarkeyInspire app, but for the Evolv hearing aid I looked at the specs. My audiogram is within hearing aid capability.
I love the battery life with this starkey, I love it. If the next phonak doesn’t offer something similar, I think my next hearing aid will be a Starkey.
The only thing I noticed that for my hearing loss it is necessary to have (customAP receiver) means I can’t use powerdome like with phonak to cover my hearing loss.
I can’t wait for them to update the app to see what has changed compared to evolv when looking at the specs.
I kinda disagree with this… I studied biology and neuroscience / neuropsych in college and as someone with a nerdy tech background, I always thought of the body as a really sophisticated piece of hardware… If you think about neurotransmitters like electricity and synaptic gates like circuit logic gates, you will start to see the parallels quickly. Obviously our biological systems are way more advanced than any hardware, but the whole AI / DNN thing is just borrowing from the logic of human neurons … obviously no where near as advanced due to missing the intricacies of human brain regions that play specific roles and interact, etc, but AI / DNN is a hell of a lot faster than the human brain at playing out rapid sequences to get to outcomes, etc.
Well yes, if you begin with the assumption that the body is a piece of hardware…you’ll see the parallels. However, computers don’t get diabetes, or a cold, or cancer. They don’t develop tumors. They don’t get chemical imbalances or suffer from grief and anxiety. Surely you wouldn’t want medicine to begin with the premise that the body is a piece of hardware, and then send it in to the shop for mechanics to cure it…that won’t work. AI is selling the notion that their hardware thinks like you and me. It doesn’t. It doesn’t think at all, as humans do–that’s the first big lie. It processes 1’s and 0’s. Then the AI folks want us to believe that WE"RE like a computer. They leave out the part about a computer not having any experiences–zip, nada. they don’t know pleasure or pain. They process as their programmers have programmed them to. To that extent, they are like us.
I appreciate your differing point of view! You’re in the majority these days. As you can see, this is yet another one of my pet peeves. By the way, computers don’t have pet peeves either.
Another relative advantage of silicon vs. cells is that evolution only designed us to be able to do certain things. The advantage of technology is that it can empower us to do things that we’re not otherwise capable of. Many things we take for granted now were once “high-tech.” Farming, metal mining and refining, domesticating animals, sailing, writing, etc. Without all that “tech,” even with all the brains we consider ourselves to have, we’d probably still just be primitive hunter-gatherers lost in a forest or jungle somewhere.
I agree with what PVC said further up in the forum (Starkey launches Genesis AI - #20 by pvc); HA technology has advanced a lot in the last decade, and probably can go a lot farther in the next decade or two. One shouldn’t be so quick to diss a technology that one hasn’t even tried yet. Let’s wait for some credible reviews before getting too excited one way or the other.
I want to back up a bit and acknowledge that faster processing from a dramatic increase in transistors onboard may improve the quality–the naturalness?–of sound; especially for music. I’m all for that!
I wonder if HA’s have reached their limits in terms of suppling sound that matches our loss into our ears. Now it’s about quality, connectivtiy, and discrimination in terms of sound in noise, etc.
I ditto that. Of course with new technology sometimes its hard to wait, but when new aids come out its best to wait 6 to 8 months before testing/buying. And of course with the delay you can research new aid reviews and possibly see what users are saying (good or bad) on HT.
That is why I am not waiting 6 to 8 months but a getting the Oticon Real to replace my Oticon Mire aids that are less than a month old. I get them upgraded for no additional cost.
I think you’re correct. I’m rather new to this hearing aid tech, having just gotten my first fitted pair of Starkey Evolv AI CIC aids. While their Bluetooth capabilities are really nice (thanks mostly due to Apples IOS hearing aid support), I can’t say I’m overly impressed with the ability of the aids otherwise. Despite custom ear molds, hearing tests and REM calibration, they work about the same as my previous OTC aids from Eargo and Sony (Signia).
This, despite all the marketing hype about the aids making 51 million adjustments per minute. Uh huh.
Err…yes they do. It’s the custom Virto line. Including IiC nano, CIC, CIC titanium, ITC MC, ITC half shell and ITE. It’s one of the most comprehensive in the industry.
I like to keep track of these things. Maybe he means Lumity? The Lumity models are too new for Customs. So keep your pants on. Oh, I meant wait a while;
I believe the only BLE connected, fully in the ear, HA that Phonak offers is the P-312 which is not a CIC model but rather an ITC or ITE model. Their CIC models, including the Titanium model don’t support BLE as far as I can tell.
If I’m mistaken, please post a link so I can educate myself further.
Ahh. OK… I see what you mean. I thought when you said BTE you were talking about Behind The Ear (BTE) i.e. Phonak only offer Behind The Ear (BTE) hearing aids.
Whereas, you meant Bluetooth - BT
Yes, the smallest form factor Phonak offer BT is with the ITC MC hearing aid - not the CIC. I understand Oticon (Own), Starkey and Resound are amongst the only aids that do offer CIC with bluetooth.
Some of the Custom Oticon Own hearing aids are too small to include a wireless radio and even the bigger Custom Oticon Own hearing aids cannot include a wireless radio if you choose to include a Telecoil for the custom build. So it’s best to look at the specific build specifications.
2022-Q3 - Own Custom IIC 10 without 2.4 GHz*
2022-Q3 - Own Custom CIC 10 without 2.4 GHz*
2022-Q3 - Own Custom ITC 312*
2022-Q3 - Own Custom ITE-HS 312*
2022-Q3 - Own Custom ITE-FS 312i*
(*) = Too small or not possible to combine 2.4 GHz and Telecoil, Choice of Telecoil = no wireless
ETA: Here’s a picture showing with or without 2.4 GHz wireless. Though, it may further confuse things because the build choice of adding a Telecoil eliminates 2.4 GHz wireless.
