Implanted Wireless Headphones

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Comments

  • @drew: I think you're right to go down the medical track on this one.

    There's not much value in re-inventing this. The medical companies have a financial stake in the mod and the resources to continually develop-- smaller and better. Competition in the market will drive the price down and quality up.

    That is... unless you can innovate it in a way that they're not thinking of... in that case, patent, package and present it to make some money and change the world a little.

    I gave up on my design after seeing what is being done with hearing aids-- the question for me now is how to save up the money for the procedure.
  • Yo, just adding some news to this thread. You’ll be pleased
    to hear that Apple have created a new Bluetooth codec that uses drastically less
    power than normal Bluetooth. As in, a 100 mAh hearing aid battery can stream 18
    hours a day for a week on this protocol.

    All the big six manufacturers of hearing aids are bringing
    out devices that use this system this year, the ReSound Linx are already on the
    market, as are the Starkey Halo. These are being touted as the “next generation”
    of hearing aids and they are. Search for “made for iPhone” hearing aids. This is
    also the system I’m using for my hearing hack.

    The grinder community in general should be stoked by this – it’s
    a very low power, high bandwidth protocol that will have lots of applications
    for connecting tiny devices to smartphones and other networked machines. Why
    Apple want to build such a thing, well, that’s for you to speculate.

  • edited June 2014
    @Frank,

    That's terrific news! Do you have any more information on this codec?
  • About the wires you could do a transdermal implant so that it goes out of you somewhere for power. Not sure how it would work though. But there is a thing called wireless charging you could put it in headphones and sleep with it on to charge it.
  • @MagneticJacob,

    I'd like to avoid transdermals, as they require regular cleaning and other maintenance, and feel more dangerous.

    Inductive charging, though? Definitely :)
  • So this thread has been going on for a while, but, strangely enough, nobody has mentioned the similar thing that DirectorX did last year.


    I don't know that he ever updated on how the implant has lasted, but I don't see why it would reject in the tragus any more than in the finger.
  • @Tiak,

    Hey, actually, I mentioned them in the first post. The biggest issues are that sound quality is less-than-awesome, and that the coil is external and you can't get great "reception" unless you hold the coil really close.
  • I'm putting together a bone conduction headset based on the Cynaps kit, that will be held in place by a subdermal magnet. Might be a better approach than implanted headphones, as the actual audio device is external so easy to charge/upgrade/repair, and the only implant is the attachment point. The magnetic attachment should also help get good sound from the transducer.
  • zombiegristle: I love the Cynaps. I've been wondering if there was a way to exploit it and get the transducers out of the hat and onto the body. 

    Have you done any testing? I'd worry that the transducers would be too heavy for regular implanted magnets to hold up. Where were you thinking of putting the magnets?  Also, I don't know what putting bone conducting earphones up to a magnet in the skin would do to sound quality - and headaches.
  • The kit and some small parts are in the mail, but I will let you know how it goes when they get here and I can start assembly.

    The magnet wouldn't be "in" the skin, it would be under it. This methoid is used to attach cochlear implant processors behind the ear, so I don't imagine it's something too unpleasant.

    I plan to put the magnet on a flat part of my skull behind and above my right ear. I have an oddly knobby head, so that seems like the best spot to me. Depending on the device size, I'm probably going to make it look like a cybernetic animal ear or devil's horn. Totally building the enclosure out of LEGO and then waterproofing it.
  • I wrote about Apple's codec here:


    A few corrections: only two hearing aid developers are currently bringing this tech to market, Starkey and ReSound. The codec is not entirely new, it's built upon the existing Low Energy layer that is part of Bluetooth 4.0 and typically used for pairing small data devices such as FitBit, JawBone etc. What Apple have done is somehow added audio streaming to that layer, which is quite impressive. 

    Though I couldn't get anyone to confirm or deny, the expectation seems to be that other smartphone manufacturers (Android, Windows) will be able to use this codec in time - perhaps by licensing it from Apple?
  • All I know is that it uses the existing Bluetooth 4.0 LE layer. I can't even imagine how you'd start reverse engineering something like that. Easier to wait a couple years for it to become a standard API thing...
  • @Frank,

    It couldn't be *that* hard.

    ~Drew
  • haha @Drew

    but it's not impossible to RE that kind of thing. Start by buying an Ubertooth and sniffing the normal comms etc.
  • I know it's been almost 3 years since the last comment in here, but this would be a really cool project! I know that there are some challenges to get something like this working perfectly. Has anyone made any strides with an implantable Bluetooth device with a microphone?
    I am really hoping that the Power Felt takes off and becomes something that consumers can buy. If we could coat it with something bioinert, we could use it to potentially power a lot of implants without having to worry about power constraints!
    The most recent update I have found is from 2012 stating that the university is looking for investors to help fund the R&D. It could be a game changer for the biohacking community though!
  • @benbezzy I believe he had made some using a FDA cleared coating he got off of amazon. Been needing to test that stuff out myself....
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