Tag Archives: ears

How Old Are Your Ears? Take This Test and Find Out

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Ear Age

You probably use your ears a lot, even when you don’t mean to or when you’re not supposed to (ahem, like when you eavesdrop.) Studies show that people put their hearing at risk a lot, with too-loud headphones, blaring car stereos, and uber loud concerts that are partly to blame.

So the big question is: How old are your ears? AsapScience has created a hearing test of sorts that plays a series of tones at increasing frequencies. The video indicates which average age group can hear the tones, so you can find just how good or bad your hearing is almost immediately.

Make sure to play the video at its highest HD-quality setting and listen to the audio with a pair of good-quality earphones, too.

This might not be the most accurate test around, but you can treat the results you get as some sort of benchmark to determine the current state of your hearing.

VIA [ C|NET ]

Special 3D Printers Use Living Tissue to Print Human Ears

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3D Printed Ears

No, those aren’t cooked pasta, although they definitely look like it. They’re actually human ears, albeit a whole lot smaller than the average. These ears were 3D printed with living tissue as the “ink” using a special printer developed by the Hangzhou Dianzi University in China.

Technically, these miniature ears are alive, in the sense that they’re composed of layers of living tissue. They aren’t functional, meaning they don’t work like the ears currently attached to the side of your head. However, there’s huge potential with 3D-printed ears like these for use as aesthetic replacements, especially for people who lost or injured their ears because of some accident or something.

Pretty amazing, huh?

VIA [ Dvice ]

These iPhone Cases With (Fake) Swappable Ears Are, Well, All Ears

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All Ears

Ever wanted to appear like you aren’t on the phone even when you actually really are? Well, at least at first glance, anyway? Then you’ll probably want to check out these All Ears iPhone cases by Fred and Friends that are literally all ears. This isn’t the first time that someone decided to make a phone case featuring the body part where they’re likely to be used on, but these are probably some of the quirkiest ones I’ve ever seen.

These will also give you more bang for your buck because you’re sort of getting six different cases in one. The All Ears case comes in two versions: the guy version and the girl version. Each comes with a hard-plastic clear case and six different ear inserts that range from tame ears to wild and crazy-looking ones.

All Ears

So when you feel like being boring, just use the plain inserts. Go for the blinged-out ears if you want to class things up a bit or use the ears with multiple piercings if you want to go all out. The choice is yours–just be prepared to get startled looks and long stares when you use your phone in public.

The All Ears case is priced at $14.99. These and a bunch of other neat cases and accessories are available online at the Accessory Geeks Apple Shop.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ BLTD ]

Necomimi Cat Ears Get Interchangeable Accessories

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We have laughed more than a few times at the oddball product from NeuroSky called the Necomimi brainwave cat ears. The ears are designed to move back and forth depending on your mood based on reading your brain waves. Out of the box, the head-worn system comes with a large pair of white ears.

If you like the idea of wearing these odd cat ears, you might appreciate having some different ear styles to wear. NeuroSky is now showing off accessories to go along with the brainwave cat ears. Accessories include four different ear tips that can replace the default snowy white units.

ears

The accessories include minky brown ears, leopard ears, obsidian black ears, and devil’s horns that would have been perfect for Halloween. There’s always next year, I suppose. Each accessory ear pack costs $19.95 (USD) over at the Necomimi shop.

Accelerometer mic could change the way we look at cochlear implants

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Image

Hearing aids aren't the most discreet cybernetic creations, because the need for a clog-free microphone means that they generally need an external component. Engineers at the University of Utah and Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland aim to change everything with a much smaller mic that uses an accelerometer to detect sound vibrations -- so it requires no opening and can be inserted right into the ear. The only exterior hardware is the charger -- worn exclusively at night. Clinical trials in living humans begin approximately three years from now, and if you're looking forward to using this new device, removal of the incus (or anvil bone) in the middle-ear must first take place to optimize effectiveness of the new implant. We never said it'd be pretty.

Accelerometer mic could change the way we look at cochlear implants originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 May 2012 11:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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