Hearing aid for father, in-ear electronics

[cdev]

The Audio Engineering Society are the global professional organization of audio engineers, people who work with sound and electronics.

They have been around for a looong time..

[tooki]

...aaaand you’ve scared off the OP.

[Assafl]

I have been working as an acoustic engineer pretty much my whole career, and I can also tell that everything more than $100-200 is absolute nuts.

Where does that come from??? Sure - any of the "high end" receivers are 10-20$ (but the IEM makers put 6 of them in an ear) - but the really high level low distortion balanced armature receivers are about 50-70$ each. You need both high volume and low distortion.

Add their low distortion low power (no high voltage bias available) microphones for a low distortion system and you are way over 100$ per ear before the actual DSP, energy management and amplification happen.

While nowhere near the $5-10k price charged by Siemens or Bernafone or Widex - but also the OP does not have to (by law) verify his in ear response against a Bruel and Kjaer dummy, nor offer a programming system, or a catalog of spare parts and support.

If I were the OP and really up to it - I'd build a big "around the neck" device. Build the parametric filters into it (DSP), a limiter (so as not to hurt the hearing) - maybe even some Dolby type compression to allow limiting but not annoying clipping.

If it works - I'd then try to miniaturize it.

Last point if they are to buy a device, I'd scour the hearing loss forums for manufacturers that are lax in their programmer cable and software - so that if the audiologists don't do a stellar job - one could tailor the settings to their preference. 

[tggzzz]

I have been working as an acoustic engineer pretty much my whole career, and I can also tell that everything more than $100-200 is absolute nuts.

Where does that come from???

Sensible question.

While nowhere near the $5-10k price charged by Siemens or Bernafone or Widex - but also the OP does not have to (by law) verify his in ear response against a Bruel and Kjaer dummy, nor offer a programming system, or a catalog of spare parts and support.

Depending on the jurisdiction, hearing aids may or may not be classed as medical devices. That's perfectly reasonable, since they could easily permanently damage someone's hearing. Once you get into that territory, it becomes very wise to have insurance, lawyers, and design manufacturing and customisations procedures that will stand up in court against hostile questioning.

[Assafl]

Depending on the jurisdiction, hearing aids may or may not be classed as medical devices. That's perfectly reasonable, since they could easily permanently damage someone's hearing. Once you get into that territory, it becomes very wise to have insurance, lawyers, and design manufacturing and customisations procedures that will stand up in court against hostile questioning.

I am sure the audiologist may also be responsible for setting the amplification too high...

There are a lot of malpractice insurance fees in the 1000's of dollars price tag. It wouldn't surprise me if half....

[cdev]

Best to avoid hearing aids then.

A customizable, compact high quality audio amplifier for headphones..with all sorts of DSP functions, and built in microphones, could tap into a big underserved market.