La nouvelle n’a pas tardé. Cadel Evans roulera l’an prochain au sein de la formation américaine BMC Racing Team. Oui, oui, celle qui a déjà engagé l’ex champion du monde Alessandro Ballan, George Hincapie et Marcus Burghardt pour ne citer que les plus connus.

L’australien se dit enchanté par sa nouvelle formation dans laquelle il aura toutes les libertés et pourra viser une 1e victoire dans un grand tour. Seulement voilà, Bmc n’évoleura que dans une division inférieure. L’équipe ne pourra participer d’office aux grandes épreuves et devra attendre les éventuelles invitations de la part des organisateurs. Cependant, il est fort à parier que la venue de Cadel Evans devrait leur ouvrir les portes d’un bon nombre d’épreuves.

Selon ses dires, Evans disposera d’une équipe entièrement dévoué à sa cause ce qui, apparemment n’était pas la cas chez Silence-Lotto. On peut toutefois se demander qui de Bmc ou de Silence est la mieux armée. Aucune des deux en réalité .. S’il est vrai que Silence manquait de grimpeurs, Bmc ne compte pas vraiment non plus de coureurs capable d’aider Evans dans les cols. Hincapie ? Morabito ? Pas vraiment convaincant. On attendra la fin du recrutement pour porter un jugement définitif sur la qualité de l’effectif.

Oscar Sevilla, Tyler Hamilton, Floyd Landis, Santi Pérez, Santiago Botero, Aitor Gonzalez, tous ont en commun d’avoir été pris pour dopage, et ce alors qu’ils courraient sous les couleurs vertes, blanches et jaunes du fabricants suisse d’appareils auditifs Phonak, managée par John Lelangue futur directeur de … Bmc. Tiens, tiens. On peut alors se poser la question de la légitimité et de la crédibilité d’une telle structure…

De son côté, Silence, non Omega Pharma se positionne à son tour pour enrôler Alberto Contador … alors que celui-ci semble toujours plus proche d’Astana.

C’est l’histoire d’un « serpent de mer » de l’audioprothèse : les fabricants utilisent-ils les seuils subjectifs d’inconfort que nous prenons la peine de mesurer ?

Et je pense que beaucoup de monde a fait la même chose : saisir un audiogramme tonal à 60dB HL plat à droite, sans inconfort, et le même à gauche avec un SSI (Seuil Subjectif d’Inconfort) à 90dB HL sur toutes les fréquences. On rentre dans un logiciel d’adaptation, on choisi le même appareil des deux côtés, et on regarde ce qui se passe avec la formule par défaut du fabricant…

Et là, trois possibilités :

• Aucune différence de réglages entre les deux oreilles (assez courant)
• Aucune différence dans le réglage des compressions MAIS le niveau de sortie maximum, si le réglage existe, est corrélé au SSI (a tendance à se développer)
• L’oreille présentant la dynamique réduite a des réglages adaptés en compression et niveau maximum de sortie (assez rare par défaut)

Donc on peut en déduire que majoritairement, les fabricants n’utilisent pas les seuils d’inconfort mesurés par les audioprothésistes, en tout cas pour leur calcul des compressions et autres points d’enclenchements.

Ce n’est pas tout à fait surprenant car la formule de calcul utilisée est souvent NAL-NL1 ou une adaptation « maison » de NAL-NL1. Or la formule australienne utilise un seuil d’inconfort statistique. Un peu vexant pour les audios qui pratiquent la mesure du SSI !

L’apparition de systèmes de gestion des bruits impulsionnels en entrée a modifié un peu cette approche puisque certains fabricants proposant ces systèmes proposent des « mix » entre un calcul des compressions basé sur la dynamique statistique et un MPO ou « pseudo-écrêtage » basé sur le SSI. C’est mieux, mais on ne nous laisse pas encore toutes les clés de la maison…

Par contre, il est toujours possible d’utiliser des formules de calcul intégrant le SSI mesuré dans le calcul des compression et MPO, c’est le cas de DSL I/O par exemple, souvent proposée par défaut lors des appareillages pédiatriques, bien qu’il ne soit pas évident d’obtenir un SSI avant 10ans.

Il faut reconnaître aussi que la mesure d’un seuil d’inconfort est très subjective (c’est le cas de le dire) : elle dépend presque autant du patient, de sa peur ou au contraire de sa bravoure (!), que du testeur et de sa limite posée (douleur ? limite du supportable ? réflexe cochléo-palpébral ?…). Pour ma part, après une consigne assez sommaire type « limite du supportable », je trouve que l’observation du visage est assez précise, et un re-test quelques années après donne souvent des résultats assez proches. Le seuil d’inconfort n’évoluerait donc pas trop avec le temps, ce qui n’est pas le cas du seuil de confort (que je ne mesure pas) mais qui semble évoluer à mesure que les patients nous demandent plus de gain « pour les voix », donc à niveau « moyen ». Ce fameux passage de courbes de transfert « concaves » à « convexes » qui rendait difficile il y a quelques années un renouvellement du Siemens Prisma 4D (courbes de transfert « convexes » à l’époque), et qui fait que les Widex sont très confortables au début (courbes de tranfert très « concaves ») mais un peu « mous » après quelques semaines (il faut redonner du gain à niveau moyen).

Mais le « grand maître » du seuil d’inconfort statistique est toujours sur son trône depuis les années 80 : c’est PASCOE la plupart du temps qui décide du seuil d’inconfort de votre patient. Ses recherches ont donné en 1988 des abaques de corrélation entre seuil d’audition et seuil d’inconfort par mesures de progression de la sensation sonore (tests LGOB). Et depuis, beaucoup de fabricants utilisent ces tables si vous ne rentrez pas de seuil d’inconfort, et même si vous en rentrez un d’ailleurs (pour certains) !!

Des études plus récentes ont affiné ce « seuil d’inconfort statistique » de Pascoe, et je suis surpris du « nuage statistique » dans lequel on fait passer ces droites de régression qui serviront de base à ces inconforts statistiques…

Et ces fameux « nuages statistiques », nous les voyons tous les jours : les patients sans aucun inconfort, ceux aux aigus insupportables, aux graves très gênants (ça arrive), etc… et pour des seuils HL finalement pas si éloignés. Alors au final, c’est vrai, il doit bien exister une « droite » qui passe par le centre de gravité de tous ces cas particuliers. Et ce que cherchent les fabricants qui utilisent ces statistiques n’est peut-être pas dénué de fondement : il vaut mieux une statistique 70% du temps juste plutôt qu’un inconfort 70% du temps mal mesuré (= aide auditive 100% mal réglée pour son porteur !).

Et si même, ne seraient-ce que 90% de nos évaluations du SSI étaient assez bonnes (pas moins bonnes que celles de Mr Pascoe en tout cas), je crois que de toutes façons nous n’avons rien à perdre à « individualiser » l’adaptation.

Vous trouverez en téchargement ici une étude sur l’utilisation des seuils d’inconforts saisis pour différents logiciels de réglages. Plusieurs choses ont été analysées: si un seuil d’inconfort est trouvé par le logiciel, l’utilise t-il pour le calcul des compressions ? juste pour le calcul du MPO/PC/SSPL90 ? pas du tout ? quelques surprises…

Article et étude rédigés conjointement par Thibaut DUVAL (pour l’étude des logiciels et tableau), Sébastien GENY et Xavier DELERCE.

Studies prove that 1/10 of the North American population is hearing-impaired. Over time, hearing assists have helped a large amount in dumping this deficiency. 

Hearing helps are small audio devices which are attached to the ears.

Most models now are’hidden’ to an informal observer. They offer a better sound quality which helps reduce, if not eliminate, the loss of hearing. As technology develops, the science behind producing hearing helps became more sophisticated. Here are the 3 basic kinds of hearing helps : one. Though not as technologically complicated as the programmable digital hearing aids the typical type can be changed in a way which will fit the user’s wants. With this sort, the volume is by hand changed by the user. The sound can be turned down or up, depending on the softness or loudness of the source of sound. The sole minor downside of this kind of hearing helps is if an individual’s hearing impairment level improves or becomes worse, it’s got to be sent back to the maker so that adjustments can be made.This can be quite inconvenient for the user. Programmable hearing helps have adjustable circuits that might be changed, depending on the user’s level of hearing. The volume control is automated, making life less complicated for the patient. Three. Digital hearing assists depending on the patient’s wishes a digital hearing aid might be ordered to suit a particular situation. This is obviously the best and most convenient type to use. There are hearing medicare execs whose job is to find the hearing help that’ll be favorable for the user.

The patient’s way of living and level of deafness is regarded when looking for the best hearing help to purchase. Digital hearing helps also feature an automated volume control.

it could take 1 or 2 visits to a medical care pro before the settings of the hearing help can be altered to the user’s satisfaction. Physically, this kind of hearing help is simpler to wear and is’kinder’ to the ears. The circuit in the hearing help mechanically increases or decreases the level of sound. There’s a microphone and an amplifier that gathers and adjusts the sound respectively.

Ultimately, the spokesperson broadcasts the side-effect of the changed and digitally-enhanced sound to the user’s ears. The disadvantage is that this kind of hearing help is more expensive than the programmable and typical hearing aids . Four. Dispensable hearing assists this kind offers the sound quality of a traditional hearing help and is less expensive than its more technologically-advanced opposite numbers. Disposable hearing assists have a shorter active life. They can last forty days at most, and once the battery expires, another one should be acquired. To select a hearing help that is best for you, ensure that you ask your ear doctor or otologist / audiologist. When consulting a pro to select the right hearing help for you, give them an overview of your way of life and budget to ascertain the best hearing help that may suit your requirements. Finally, try it for one or two days and if you find the hearing help that you purchased doesn’t fit your ear, your requirements and your technique of living, return to your fitness care pro so that another type can be bought.

PHONAK apporte une pierre à l’édifice. En effet, les outils de connaissance de l’audition restent peu nombreux. Ainsi, pointe depuis quelques années, des tests, que l’on peut qualifier de psychoacoustique, permettant de mieux appréhender l’aptitude à comprendre la parole. On peut citer les tests dichotiques. Néanmoins, ces tests restent relativement long à mettre en place.

Ainsi, on peut savoir si le patient est atteint de troubles centraux de la compréhension (APD). L’application immédiate est la détection des troubles de l’intelligibilité dans le bruit chez les sujets ne présentant pas de surdités sur les audiogrammes tonaux, mais qui se plaignent de pas correctement percevoir dans le bruit. On parle alors du syndrome de King-Kopersky. Ces tests existent mais sont difficiles à utiliser en routine.

PHONAK va plus loin en proposant de comprendre le fonctionnement chez le malentendant par le biais de tests. La nouveauté est évidemment de comprendre où se situe le dysfonctionnement parmis les nombreux étages du systèmes auditifs.

On est impatient de voir ce bijou en Français ! A noter qu’une équipe ORL de Bruxelles a sorti il y a 4/5 ans un CD proposant des tests dichotiques et permettant d’évaluer la présence d’ADP.

https://www.phonakpro.com/phonak/com/b2b/en/professional_tools/diagnostic/lisn-s/lisn-s_in_detail.html

Depuis quelques temps, j’ai constaté que de plus en plus de gens se posent des questions par rapport à la surdité. Je suis contente qu’autant de monde s’intéresse à cette communauté de personnes sourdes et malentendantes ; ça ne fera qu’améliorer les choses !

Alors, je me suis dit que je pourrais partager d’autres informations et des expériences personnelles avec vous.

Je ne sais pas s’il y en a qui se sont déjà retrouvé dans une salle de classe où le professeur portait un petit micro ? Au début, vous vous étiez probablement demandé à quoi servait ce micro. Le professeur enregistre-t-il ses cours ? Se prend-t-il pour un animateur de Radio-Canada ? Plus tard, on vous a sûrement informé que finalement, cela s’appelle un appareil à distance, et que c’est fait pour les personnes malentendantes.

L'Appareil Solaris

Qu’est-ce qu’un appareil à distance ? En gros, le professeur porte un micro qui est relié à l’émetteur, une petite boîte. Il le porte sur lui tout au long du cours ou de la conférence. L’étudiant ou la personne malentendante porte un récepteur qui est relié à son appareil auditif. En fait, il y a ce qu’on appelle un sabot, qui se branche sur l’appareil auditif, et à l’autre bout du sabot, il y a un fil qui est relié à la petite boîte qu’est le récepteur.

Comment ça marche ? L’appareil à distance s’appelle aussi un Système FM. Donc, ça fonctionne par fréquence. Lorsque la personne parle dans le micro, les sons sont envoyés par les fréquences qui sont reçu par le récepteur. Bref, les images vont vous aider à mieux comprendre.

Aujourd’hui, ce genre d’appareil à distance commence à disparaître peu à peu et est remplacé par un appareil sans fil. En fait, le petit micro et la boîte ne font qu’un ; une boîte encore plus petite où le micro est intégré et peut se mettre autour du cou, comme un collier. Pour ce qui est du récepteur, il est rendu minuscule ! Il a la forme d’un petit cube et est relié directement au sabot. Génial, non ?

Cependant, cela peut légèrement varier d’une compagnie à l’autre. Pour ce qui est de l’appareil avec fil, j’utilisais un Solaris, qui, en passant, était de bonne qualité. Il m’a été fidèle pendant mes années au primaire et le début du secondaire.

Le ZoomLink

La compagnie Sonova Holding AG est actuellement une des meilleures concernant l’appareil à distance sans-fil. C’est évidemment celui que j’utilise présentement pour l’école. Plus précisément, c’est le ZoomLink. Par contre, il est quand même dispendieux ! Heureusement, j’ai pu en avoir un gratuitement par le Gouvernement, étant donné mon niveau de surdité et mes études à temps plein.

À quoi sert cet appareil ? Qu’est-ce qu’il nous apporte de plus ?

Lorsqu’on est malentendant, ça nous arrive souvent de louper des bouts de conversations. On peut parfois tomber dans la lune à force de trop se concentrer à écouter l’autre et suivre constamment sur les lèvres. Le fait de porter cet appareil fait en sorte que la voix du professeur, par exemple, arrive directement dans nos oreilles, et le son est également plus fort.

Cependant, le son est plus fort seulement pour les malentendants, et pas pour les autres. L’appareil n’enregistre pas non plus le cours ; ce n’est pas un magnétophone ! Ça fait seulement amplifier le son.

Récepteur Du ZoomLink & Sabot

Personnellement, ça m’est très utile. Ma concentration est accrue et je peux saisir beaucoup plus d’informations. Certes, il a ses inconvénients. Ça peut arriver qu’il grinche, où qu’il aille des problèmes électroniques, comme tout autre appareil. Heureusement, ça arrive rarement !

L’appareil à distance a d’autres avantages, mis à part le fait que j’entends mieux. Au secondaire, il arrivait à mes professeurs d’oublier de fermer l’appareil lorsqu’ils sortaient de la classe pour parler au directeur, par exemple. Alors, j’en profitais ! Ce n’est pas de ma faute s’il ou elle oubliait de le fermer…

Lors des travaux individuels, je n’avais pas constamment besoin d’aller voir le professeur lorsque j’avais une question : je laissais mon appareil ouvert et si un élève allait poser la même question que moi, j’avais juste à rester assise à ma place et à écouter ! Très utile.

Finalement, je suis contente qu’aujourd’hui nous puissions avoir recours à des avancées technologiques afin de nous adapter le plus possible à notre environnement, et pas seulement chez les sourds et malentendants. Le futur ne sera que plus prometteur…

PHONAK a mis en ligne un simulateur permettant d’évaluer le rapport signal sur bruit avec les différents produits FM dont ils disposent. Une bonne initiative qui permet de mieux appréhender le rendu sonore et de chiffrer le résultat. A quand une version Française ?
Système FM – PHONAK

So, on Tuesday night I went along to this http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/showbiz/article-23722680-details/Bryan+Adams+brings+his+art+show+to+London/article.do  at the Saatchi and Saatchi gallery and mingled with the stars – our team are handling the press for the whole campaign.

Of course it was fabulous daaaaahlings. Champagne? Check. Uber chic dress? Check. Ability to keep inappropriate conversation to a minimum? Ha!

Business Directory for Brighton, East Sussex

Today we walked down the Mall here in Washington, DC, and it is extremely humid. After a few blocks I got a severe cramp in a muscle in my left leg, and it started tightening up and hurting. I have quite a threshold for pain, and when we found a bench to sit down on, Steve was startled to feel just how tight the muscle felt under his hand. So we had to get a taxi. I wasn’t happy about needing the taxi, since I actually can and have walked reasonably long distances, but there was no point in trying to walk back with my leg hurting this much in humidity as bad as today is. Steve hailed a cab, which immediately started towards where I was limping from. The cab driver was Asian, with a very thick accent. The three of us talked about yesterdays’ surprising news, Michael Jackson’s death. The conversation was an in depth analysis of music, dance moves, and Michael Jackson’s personal life, with a foray into the life of Elvis Presley. Normally the accent would have tripped me up, and I could have never followed the conversation without seeing the cab drivers’ lips. It was a great, engaging conversation with a cabbie who brought up interesting points…but best of all, I heard every single word of it! We rested this afternoon, which meant that the hearing aids came out. We met some dear friends for dinner and they treated us to a wonderful meal. The restaurant was noisy, and I was concerned. My current hearing aids have a restaurant setting to block out background noise, but I don’t know much about how these demos work. I shouldn’t have worried. Not only did I hear our friends just fine, but I understood the waiter, as well. One thing that stands out to me is that people’s voices have more resonance. I like that. One of the voices that goes off on this laptop that I am using is John Lithgow as Dick Solomon saying :“ I find you pompous, judgmental and completely self absorbed. Will you be my friend?” I just love the resonance his voice when he says this sentence. I’m thrilled with the discoveries that I made today. What will tomorrow bring? I guess I’ll find out. Until tomorrow.

Today we spent the afternoon driving to Washington DC to celebrate our 26^th wedding anniversary. Steve played some music on his CD player, and as I listened, I discovered that I could understand most of the lyrics to three of them…and pieces here and there of others. I spent most of the afternoon in tears at the shock at being able to understand some of which was previously out of my reach.

My cousin Becki met us at our hotel and we went out to dinner. I didn’t have to struggle to follow the conversation, nor struggle to understand the waiter.

We’ll see how far I go until I have to give the phonaks back. It’ll be a sad, sad, day.

Je viens de découvrir une fonction que je ne connaissais pas dans la dernière version 2.4 de iPFG (PHONAK) :
Lors de la sélection d’un appareil Audéo YES, si la coque d’écouteur fabriquée est de type Slim Tip (type coque d’intra, fermée à l’entrée) ou cShell (coque transparente pleine ou totalement évidée, ouverte à l’entrée), le logiciel préconise un évent AOV (évent optimisé acoustiquement). Cet évent est choisi lors de la commande.
Une fois sélectionné, le logiciel demande alors de saisir un code AOV, fourni par Phonak sur le bon de livraison, pour chaque coque.
Ce code renseigne le logiciel sur les paramètres exacts du moulage fabriqué : épaisseur, longueur, diamètre, profondeur, position de l’évent dans le conduit… tout ceci afin d’optimiser les caractéristiques acoustiques propres à chaque couple oreille/coque, ce que Phonak appelle la « masse acoustique de l’évent ». Ces valeurs serviront à affiner davantage le préréglage issu de l’AudiogramDirect. Toujours cette fameuse course au RECD (et accessoirement, à la résonance de Helmholtz)…
Ce code est dores et déjà donné pour toutes les coques Slim Tip et sera disponible en juillet pour les cShell ou xShell.

It was announced today that Alejandro Valverde is suing CONI.  http://www.velonews.com/article/91670/valverde-to-sue-coni-prosecutor  It’s about time cyclists started standing up for themselves.  CONI has been on a witch hunt for years of Valverde and has been trying to use illegally obtained evidence to do so. 

Now, to be clear, I am very outspoken against dopers.  See my earlier post regarding Tyler Hamilton.  It is a huge problem that needs to be rooted out. But I am also very much against tyranny by self-righteous governing bodies such as WADA, AFLD, and CONI. 

How can anybody trust the results they come up with when in so many cases, their so-called evidence is compromised. They fail to follow proper procedures that ensure the integrity of what they do.  If the testers don’t have integrity, how can we expect the athletes to have integrity?  Cyclists are the most tested athletes in the world.  Lance Armstrong has had 25 out of competition doping controls since August.  He is averaging better than one every two weeks.  And these do not count the the in competition controls.  I am all for the testing, but these guys are being abused and they need to stand up.  They also need to make sure they clean.  I just don’t know how we can trust anyone in cycling when proper procedures are not followed and the athletes have no recourse.  Lives have been irreparably harmed by a lack of consistency and accountability for testers, labs, prosecutors and licensing agencies.   And remember, I am a prosecutor myself.  And I thank God that I get to live in a country where the State has to prove their case.

Thank you Alejandro for being brave enough to take the first step.  Hopefully others will follow and both sides of cycling will come out cleaner for it.

SDG

Hello All,

After the tremendous successes I’ve had testing out these modifications, I’ve made them permanent on quite a few of my IEM models; the JVC HA-FX300R, The Phonak Audeo Perfect Fit Earphone, The Sleek Audeo SA-6 2009 edition, and the etymotic ER*4-P…

I originally was inspired by JVC’s wood diaphragm in the Victor HB-FX500 “woodies” after seeing a diagram of their driver assembly and thought , well why not use a paper cone? So I was able to use a cap on the treble stems held in place by the Phonak Audeo Silicone Tips locked in place to act as a speaker cone diaphragm made of Receipt Paper, letting it become brighter as needed and speedier, too, by allowing air to pass through micro perforations made with a sewing needle.

That was the basis for the Mod’s redefinition today: Using the fabric that holds paper speaker cones together in real speakers as the diaphragm material.

What a SMASHING SUCCESS!!!

My IEMs sound easily $100 to $200 bucks more expensive, and more like stereo speakers than headphones.

In addition the Balanced Armature model IEMs have the best of both world sound characteristics… the airy treble and precision of a balanced armature, and the layered bass subwoofing of a real dynamic driver. YUM!!

The JVC Bi-Metal HA-FX300R’s sound like a total Hi-Fi sound setup, 2.0 Stereo System nestled inside my skull rather than IEMs. They pound the crap out of any BIG BOY Can I’ve EVER had resting on my head.

I believe that’s due to the direct funneling and amazing design of the Bi-Metal Driver, coupled with the Fabric Driver Diaphragm stretched over the treble nozzle, effectively making it a dual-dynamic driver.

I’m going to be very judicious as to whether or not to micro perforate the JVC’s Fabric Diaphragm Mod, as it already has enough sparkle in the treble. It could open the mids if I did very tiny pinpricks, maybe four.

How to acheive the Modifications:

1) Obtain a good speaker, smallish size. I repurposed a dead SONY Bookshelf system’s speaker for this purpose.

2) Open the Speaker, with whatever tools are necessary, I only needed screwdrivers…

3) Remove the Speaker Driver from the Wooden or Plastic Housing: You just want the fabric diaphragm & paper cone.

4) Use an X-Acto knife and cut that stuff carefully (so as to avoid injury to self and material) from the Speaker Driver (you’ll need to free the paper and the fabric from the center of the Cone and the edge of the Frame.

5) Once free, you’ll want to cut squarish sections for your IEM nozzles from the surrounding Diaphragm Fabric surrounding the Paper Cone.

6) Use Krazy Glue, Liquid Skin (which I used) or anything that bonds anything to anything quickly…

7) For Example we’ll cover the JVC HA-FX300 series Bi-Metal Dynamic Driver IEM.

Use the X-Acto knife to cut the paper covering the nozzles / treble nozzles (after removing the sleeves) from the IEM Drivers.

9) This is similar to the Kramer Mod you’ll find on HeadFi.org, but decidedly different…

10) Once free of the stock paper which tore really soon after using the Bi-Metal’s anyway, adding a wee bit too much sparkle in the extreme treble range, you’ll need to clean the housing of the treble nozzles with denatured alcohol or I suppose rubbing alcohol will do.

11) Make sure the glue that held the paper in place is clear from the rim of the treble nozzles. Scrape with the X-Acto knife if you must.

12) If you scraped, or sanded, please re-clean with alcohol.

13) Make sure your piece of Diaphragm Fabric is Oversized for the rim of the treble nozzle of the Bi-Metal.

14) OK, now use the glue/bonding material of choice and apply copiously (i.e. generously) to the rim of the treble nozzle of the Bi-Metal.

15) Press the Nozzle against the Inside Curved side of the Diaphragm Fabric (Back Side) for at least 60 seconds, and pick up the Fabric which should now be somewhat bonded to the Bi-Metal treble nozzle, and press your finger against it and hold it making sure there’s a lot of pressure exerted for a good bond for another 60 – 120 seconds. Good.

16) Now Do the Other Driver’s treble nozzle…

17) Let the bond settle for around 2 to 3 hours.

18) Now it’s time to glue down the extra fabric in a foldover/circular pattern until satisfied with the overall shape and security of the gluedown.

19) I suggest gluing 2 opposing sides at a time so your finger and thumb pressure gets the job done quicker.

20) About 3 min for each “pair” of bonds here… Don’t go quickly, you’ll only risk the fabric lifting, and get frustrated if you peel it off the treble nozzle completely. Be patient!!

21) After both Drivers have the Diaphragm Fabric glued down totally to the treble nozzles all the way around, it’s time to use some Clear Nail Polish to seal the fabric bonds down && recuce any likelihood of the new Diaphragm Fabric Driver Mod from ever coming free. We want a permanent thing here.

22) Once coated with 2 or 3 heavy coats which have sit well enough (dry to touch) between each coat, Let the IEMs sit & cure for a Day or Two before further modification. We want that Polish to cure.

23) Once cured, we want to use a sharp skinny pointed needle and put four very tiny micro-holes in a square pattern in the center of the new Fabric Diaphragm. ONLY do this if the volume coming out of them is very low from your player/source, or if the highs/treble sounds muffled.

24) A safe and sane way to approach this is to try one hole total, then four holes total, then 8 holes total, then if still not enough, punch a full needle diameter hole in the center of the diaphragm. The volume should go up as well as top end sparkle in a big way. but the other micro perforations should give enough mid to counteract and provide a smooth tonal range for your musical pleasure.

25) For Tips: Use the Phonak Audeo Perfect Fit Earphone Silicone Tips in the size that provides the best seal for your canal. I use the Small size. Its easy enough to get them on the JVC Bi-Metal: THEY STRETCH A LOT!! Peel back the rounded part so it is inside out, then push & force the end of the Phonak Tip over the very edge of the rather large treble nozzle of the JVC Bi-Metal and force the Phonak Tip up, around, & over the JVC nozzle. It’ll wiggle on when you push gently with enough even pressure. It stays on tight too.

26) You could use other Tips if you like I guess, but You WONT want to go back to other tips after trying the Audeo PFE tips. They’re the best out there. Cleanest, Most Musical, Most comfortable, Best sealing. And, they jiggle with the music.

Notes: There’s quite a bit of OVERALL sound quality enhancement, rendition improvement, range smoothing and extension, and bass resonance enhancement, as well as treble detail articulation from these mods. You should really really really consider it!!

Best In Any Manner Of Things!

And Happy Listening!!!

Hello Again,

I know you know I know you know that I’m a big fan of the Phonak Audeo Perfect Fit Earphone…

I’ve DONE quite a few things to these midrange priced puppies to trick them out.

I’ve Ported them by drilling holes into their housing to let them “breathe” as you would have a port in a subwoofer.

I’ve even proceeded to ballsishly or foolishly bi-port them, by drilling a second set of holes into them where the sound would spill out to the treble-catching portion of the ear, well not lobe, i guess “wing”??

So sound leaks out of them in 3 directions basically. Like a mini stereo rig. a 2.1 setup. Ha Ha Funny.

Onward…

The problem is that they DO sound bassy. But they leak too much treble tone, and are left, “pitchy” as the American Idol judges would critisize…

Now, I’ve just read some interesting things about the way JVC makes their IEMs. They cover the treble stem with a paper covering of some type.

Kind of like having a paper diaphragm cone in front of another metal diaphragm driver… kinda odd, somewhat interesting.

So I thought what the hay. Paper is cheap…

So I tried the same thing out with the “normal” treble stem or regular “nozzle” end of the Audeo PFE. I tried glueing paper to the rim of the nozzle. With a ported bass (black) filter in place on each of the driver units. Ported? MORE PORTED CRAP to these mods. Yes. I poked a hole in the passive black filter with a needle. To let more bass and as it would be, treble, through. Whilst blocking or filtering most of it out/through the “bass”/black passive filter.

Basically Funneling the air passed from the driver into the ear canal through a tighter hole. Then there’s the manually drilled ports which allow the driver assembly to “breathe” as I’ve converted it into an “OPEN” type driver/armature assembly… Air gets sucked in, and squeezed through a funneled hole. It also passes back through the ports but hey, nothings 1:1 in physics.

So on to the new filter in front of the modded filter. The paper was too thick. I poked a hole with a needle in the center, and since the paper was TOO THICK it FAILED to act as a wiggley giggley diaphragm. it just leaked pitchy trebly noisy bass. ugh.

So I had a brief flash of bryallunce (dyslexic for brilliance!) and thought, vellum? no, Receipt Paper!! That is THIN but not Toilet Paper!! it might work…

Sure enough it kind of did.

However. Yes Caveat Emptor. It also quieted everything and I mean EVERYTHING down A HEAP. fooey.

So I thought If I can Pinprick instead of put full HOLES into the center of the Receipt Paper cone diaphragms… to funnel or “port” the sound aperature just enough… Maybe…

One hole didn’t cut it. But an array of four in the center of each one did!!!

I have mini paper cone diaphragm drivers in front of my Audeo PFE’s Single Balanced Armature assembly. !! … Um. Expletive. Neato. It sounds unique too!

Like an older Record Player // Fisher Price Turntable quality layer on top of REALLY CLEAR SOUND from the Audeo PFE as you’d expect, along with the Bigger Bass Imaging, and spaciousness from the extra throws from the biported arrangement caught by the human ear structure itself.

Don’t count out the human equation.

Wow. Colour me impressed. I’ve tamed the pitchy beast, “elastomer” as I’ve ended up having named the pair of IEM earphones previously. They now have a Victorola flavour on top of that beautiful elastic range. And now they are de-shrilled. Nice!!

Well, The only other thing left to say is that the Medium Silicone Tip is wedging the Reciept Paper Cone Diaphragm in place so I’ll prob’ly never be changing these bad boys again.

I’m done.

With this pair anyhoo. anypoo.

I might pick up a second pair and have them recabled or systematically recableable via interconnect sockets/terminators for the cables and be able to EQ or colour the sound via cable type if I can figure out how to DIY or pay for a Modsmith to do it for Moi. That would rock!! I’d really have to consider the placement and size of the port aperatures too, if I did that to the new pair. What I’d really like is to retrofit the Sleek Audio SA-6 Bass Port Cap assembly onto the Audeo PFE. That’d rock! VQ’able, Cable EQ’able New-Oldsound One-Off Craftspieces…

Dreaming a little Dream…

Hope you enjoyed the rant!

Best in Any Manner Of Things…

-FLACvest

The JVC (Japan Victor Corporation) HA-FX300R Bi-Metal Canalphone-type IEM.

Quite an interesting little devil this one is. It uses a dynamic driver for it’s audio imaging, which after over 100 hours of burn in has become quite the musical little metal bongo drum well in its own class of timbre. It has a vocal range from a bassment of an advertised 8 Hz (and is ported!), to a rather exciting, if somewhat aggressive celing of 25 kHz… mostly in the 22-25 kHz range where it gets a bit bansheeriffic. But, that sounds great for brass instruments, and acidy slurping heavily detailed treble. It’s just a different animal than anything I’ve been used to before. I didn’t know what to expect, and this “Bi-Metal” Evaporation Dynamic Driver Substrate is an interesting animal, held together by a brass ring for tightness of the “drum” structure, and to take extraneous vibe out of the “colouring” of the audio tonality.

However, I find the Bass to be deep, round, more on the hum than the punch, though it is quite boomy enough to make me want to abandon my beloved v-moda bass-freq’s… those are just flatly out-classed all around by these bad boys. They’ve even earned a moniker, “smooth operator”. Which I have custom emblazoned on the back of the cord management Y-adapter…

These are very, well, very well crafted, lovingly machined, exceptionally well rendered pieces of technology, giving my Phonak Audeo PFE’s, Sleek Audeo SA-6’s, and etymotic ER*4-P’s each a challenge for a place, not totally usurping, but definitely succeding at vying, for a place at my attention span in my audio toolkit by which I scrutinize maximum enjoyment from Music with…

They’re a very mellow, relaxed ride. Good for all occasions. actually excelling at Rock-like music, and synth-guitar heavy Electro. Colour me impressed indeed. The liquidity of the music is just slipping all over the insides of my ears.

However… It WAS a challenge to find the right fit for these puppies. The Silicone JVC Tips were flat out USELESS!!! The Marshmallow Foam tips provided were OKay-ish, yet too thin to grip inside my ears and fill them up. So I went for De-Tubed Phonak Audeo Comply’s which is what I had on hand… That worked OK, but… Not very. Next up was the big black foam tips detubed from etymotic… those worked well. But I like the wiggle, jiggle, and sterility of silicone. So I tried! You guessed it the Phonak Audeo PFE Silicone Tips, but not before making my ears sore with the Sleek Audio Silicone BiFlanges… OWW! 4 days of Hell… My ear canal entrypoints swelled up and I got a tear in the tissue that pussed up. GROSS! Those went to the hydrogen peroxide bath and back in a clean bag. Oh yeah, Phonak to the Rescue.

So after My EARS healed, I tried the Large Silicone Tips, which actually wiggle quite interestingly in the treble range if you pull them out just right… The Medium Silicone Tips give a good overall and midtoned imagey wiggle, while today for the first time I tried the Small Silicone Tips and have settled upon them as the best. For they give the most tight, grippy, secure, “in the canal” fit. They allow placement as the IEMs are designed to be placed, floating… They wiggle and jiggle uniformly with both treble and bass, and provide a less hummish and more punchy rendition to the bass. It’s nice. Everything tonally is more verbose and articulate. Less warm and mushy and laid back. More vivid and to the point without getting carried away, yet there’s a cross-spectrum tonal wiggle that I’d call subharmonics at work that makes sound just yummy with these “speakers for the ear canal”.

Try them. Scour eCOST.com for them. Try Google. Bargain Bins… They’re not ALWAYS a hundred bucks. Mine weren’t. And I’d now gladly pay full monty for them…

And I’ll repeat it again.  DOPERS SUCK!!!

It was announced today that Tyler Hamilton was busted.  Again.  At first I wasn’t surprised.  This is his fourth accusation of doping.  He got away with it at the Olympics because they messed up his B sample.  Then he got out-right caught at the Giro, then he was named in Operation Puerto (alongside some teammates that had the cajones to confess).  But then I saw Taylor Phinney say, “That’s too bad, he was a really nice guy;” and I got mad. 

I didn’t get mad at Taylor, but at what Taylor pointed out:  that Tyler Hamilton was looked up to, and he let us all down.  Again.  Who can forget Tyler’s climb up Alpe d’Huez with a broken collar bone? Who can forget all the talent this guy has had and thrown away?  He is the current U.S.A. National Champion.  He is supposed to represent all of us every time he gets on a bike. 

And his response to it all is to make excuses.  He said he was depressed and took DHEA in an OTC anti-depressant.  Bull Crap! DHEA is a steroid.  He wants us all to feel sorry for him and his hard life.  Listen up Tyler, you get to live our dream.  You get to do everyday what we all wish we could do.  And you do it better than all but a handful of us.  Your problems have only come from your own selfishness.  You have no excuses.  This affects all of us. We are all going to suffer because of you. 

But there is always redemption.  Tyler, you now have the opportunity to turn your life around on a public stage.  Help others learn from your mistakes.   Don’t make our future suffer because of your own selfish pride.  Don’t walk away and hide in a corner.  Stand up and do the right thing.  For once, do the right thing.  Fight to take your life back like you fought on those mountains in France.  Don’t let Taylor Phinney down again.

je sens que je ne vais pas être très objectif face à ce petit bijou… Mais force est de constater qu’il incorpore une armada d’algoritmespour répondre à presque tous les types de pertes auditives… D’abord en terme de puissance, on remarque un gain incroyable surtout avec un écouteur PP et une minicoque. En terme d’égalisation fréquentielle, on retrouve un nombre important de curseurs qui permettent de préciser le gain en fonction de la fréquence. Le nombre de curseurs dépend du type de Audéo choisi.

la version minimale dispose déjà d’une autocommutation en fonction des ambiances sonores.

Le plus produit, en dehors de la coque, se situe au niveau du soundrecover® et du système wireless qui permettent d’améliorer significativement la compréhension.

A découvrir !

Le tips :

attention pour les renouvellements, je conseille d’éviter d’enclencher le soundrecover qui vrisemblablement trouble les malentendants déjà équipés. Il est vrai que le soundrecover poussé au maximum ampute la réponse de ses fréquences les plus hautes.

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Je me souviens avec émotion de mes premiers émois d’audioprothésiste : l’ouverture des petits livrets estampillés PHONAK qui nous promettaient de nous instruire des lois de l’audioprothèse ! Et bien force est de constater que plusieurs années après, un vif ntérêt s’empare de moi à la lecture de ces antiques écrits ! A croire que rien n’a changé : tout est là ! Je ne peux que vous inviter à compulser ses dossiers à la gloire de nos illustres prédécesseurs, qui jouaient du coude acoustique et de l’effet Horn pour maximiser le résultat prothétique !

Bref à lire !

télécharger les Focus

Hi Folks,

This time I had the crazy Idea, boy I really really really hate the triple flange silicone tips on my Etymotic ER*4-P IEMs… And so I swapped them out for the foam plugs. Which worked until I remembered that it felt like a cadillac was being crammed into my ear canal. UGH. So I thought, well… …the Phonak Audeo’s come with Comply Foam eartips… I wonder if I can swap the Etymotic foams for those. I had already tried swapping the silicone tips of the Etymotic type with the Phonak Audeo type with no success, so I was a mite skeptical. Not familiar with these techical marvels? Find more info here:

http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er4.aspx

Oddly enough the ’straw’ size of the plastic tubes inside the foam tips were nearly identical in size, so I tried them on the stems of the Etymotic ER*4-P’s. To my surprise they JUST BARELY FIT.

Now for the test that tells all, will they expand to seal properly inside the ear canal and provide BASS and the Ety sound???

BINGO!!! YEA! They Do!. If anything they are a tiny tiny smidgen louder because all the way in, the filter of the stem is a tad farther in than they would be than with either of the Etymotic tips. I can hear a bit more high pitch twinge of sound instrumentation with them than normal which makes them sound a bit Ety+

The Bass Signature is Just Fine for an ER*4P, and the FEEL is W-O-R-L-D-S more Comfy.

This mod is highly reccomended by yours truly. I might actually keep my Etymotics instead of selling them like I had planned. The BASS sounds great when amplified by either an Auzen Tech X-Meridian (or similar) audio card with swappable OP-AMPs upgraded to Texas Instruments Burr-Brown OPA627AU OP-AMPs which are excellent for classical music, display very good open instrumentation, are quite bassy, with a rich smoothness that drools high end hi-fi stereo quality, and great detail across the broad spectrum, as well as posessing an extremely fluid and MUSICAL quality to them. Now, if you don’t have one of these boards, or can’t get your mits on one, you CAN get another Auzen Tech board that has upgradeable OP-AMPS such as the X-Plosion, etc…

http://www.auzentech.com/site/products/x-plosion_cinema.php

OR you can look up HeadRoom at:

http://www.headphone.com

and get an amp and DAC combo that will work for your budget and tastes. They know their audio, and Mike O. really knows his tech. I talk to him frequently. There’s cool things available like these OP-AMPs in the amps, and some really nice DACs (Digital Audio Converters) which hook up to USB > Digital CoAxial > TosLink Optical (TosLink being best quality) bypassing the soundcard and processing the digits from your audio stream then feed it to the yummy OP-AMPs in the Amplifier to give you PRISTINE, Beautiful, Audiophile, Stereophonic grade sound from ANY computer. Windows, Mac, Linux… Bring It.

So that covers how I like to mate bass to the Etymotic signature microphonic extreme bright treble detail. They’ll basically stay clear and true and soak up whatever bass you throw their way with a balanced proportion, as a good headphone/earphone should in an ideal world!, and let the user customize the sound staging with the setup, aka, amps, dacs, filters, eqs, etc…

So… If you happen to be lucky enough to own the FANTASTICALLY Graciously supported Etymotic In Ear Monitors, be they ER*4-S, ER*4-P, ER*6, etc… (Made in the USA btw) enjoy them better with the OH so COMFY Comply foam ear tips available from Swiss Made Audeo, brought to you by Phonak at:

http://store.audeoworld.com/shared/StoreFront/default.asp?CS=audeoworld&StoreType=BtoC&Count1=344356715&Count2=261497139&ProductID=5&Target=products.asp

Phonak Inc., USA
4520 Weaver Parkway
Warrenville , IL 60555-3927

Esteemed Product Engineer:

The following letter has been written by my 7-year old daughter, who is a user of your products.

Why did you make the shoe and the wire for the FM system that attaches to my Freedom the color gray? Does that make any sense? If it is for white people, then it should be beige. And if it is for black people, then it should be brown. But there are no gray people! Please write me back with an answer. Gray is such a silly color that looks so funny on me.

Yours truly,

Miriam, 7
Brooklyn, NY

P.S. I hope you change it soon.

I was walking back to my building a few minutes ago with my lunch and there was a mom with a child in a wheelchair.  The wheelchair was bright colored and the mom was laughing and talking to her child.  It was a happy moment.  It was a good moment.  Parents of kids who have different disabilities really deserve a pat on the back, a hug and all the free Starbucks coffee they want.  They are Special Parents!

*** THE RIDE ***

This is getting fun now!

Legal and Foundation has approved the registration form.  Email blast coming together, jersey is in Vermot and about to be produced.  Thanks to everyone who worked on all this stuff.  This event wouldn’t happen without y’all!

Training and eating are back on track.  I love hulu.com because I can watch TV on the computer while I train.  I watched 30 Rock last night then I watched Dollhouse.  I had seen commercials for Dollhouse (on Fox) and thought it would be like Eagle Eye or Wanted but nah.  It’s OK but I’ll more than likely watch something else.

Seen Rock Racing’s new look?  I thought they looked cool last year and the year before but this time it’s a look more like hard core death metal.  If that’s what they want, well, knock yourself out.

Lance Armstrongs time trail (TT) bike got stolen the other night.  It’s a one of a kind bike so good luck selling it.  Don’t buy a Livestrong bike right now.

Lunch is over… back to it!  Watch for exciting news coming out soon!

Life is good!