New Glasses Double as Hearing Aids

Scientists from Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands have developed spectacles with tiny embedded microphones on each side.

The glasses, called Varibel, dampen surrounding noise while selectively strengthening sounds coming from in front of the wearer. The device separates proffered sounds from the unwanted with twice the sensitivity of a traditional hearing aid, the manufacturer claims.

According to the U.S. National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, one in three people past the age of 60 suffer from hearing loss.

Apart from their unaesthetic appearance, traditional hearing aids intensify sounds from all directions, sometimes making it hard for a user to focus on normal conversation. This causes many to withdraw from social settings and even leave their jobs earlier in life.


LiveScience.com

Pretty cool.
Been wondering how long before this kind of thing actually got made.

Though I have to think, people are gonna start thinking granny's gone off the deep end when she says "Oh hold on, I can't hear ya without my glasses.".



Comments, Opinions?

LOL! My grandfather had these 20 years ago. I kid you not.

They had a bit thicker arms for the small batteries, etc and then had clear plastic tubes that went to his ears. It didn't filter sound like these maybe, but the idea certainly isn't new.

Yeah, it's not new, but it's something that should a solution for a lot of people who forget to put in their hearing aids.(There are many people, my friends grandmother always has it in for instance but it's usually off)

Make it turn on a lowish volume as soon as it senses the heat from the ear using a piezo or something like that. The technology is there to create intigrated units, though I'm sure that they won't be that pretty(yet)