Jim Frohoff wrote:

>>I believe he means that the white noise only needs to be around the
>>frequency he is trying to mask.
>
>
> Precisely
>
>
>>>So I believe the answer is that you need to filter the white noise
>
> source to
>
>>a tunable bandwidth. (Filtered 'white noise' I believe is referred to as
>>'pink noise', but I digress).
>
>
> Pink noise has even power distribution per octave. So I guess what I need
> is just a small bandwidth of "random" noise, whether it's pink or white
> probably won't matter. I will be doing some testing shortly, but I believe I
> only need 1/3 octave centered on the tinnitus frequencies, as you described
> above.
>
>
>>In general what you're asking for probably couldn't be home-made as a
>
> normal
>
>>sized hearing aid.
>
>
> No doubt impossible for "normal sized" hearing aid. What I have in mind is
> a pocket module that can help make my life a bit more normal again :-)
>
>
>>Good Luck.
>
>
> Thanks, I'll need it. Jim
>
>
I think you're on the right track. First make it work, then make it
pretty. If I wanted to do that -- and one of these days I might -- I'd
start with a low-power stereo board and headphones that look like
gun-range ear protectors (and act like them when unpowered), with
microphones mounted right on them. Once you get it tinkered with enough
to be worth using, you can power the board from three sealed lead-acid C
cells at least long enough to enjoy a play or a movie. If you decide
it's worth doing, you could miniaturize it later. You might want to talk
to the people at Songbird. They're always looking for new niches for
their products. If you were one of their guinea pigs, you'd get their
aids free. If it solved only one of your problems, it could still be
worth while. http://www.songbirdhearing.com/

Several people who make boards you can use read and post here. I would
use a 'C33 DSK because I already have one and I don't think it would
compromise what I could achieve. I like the idea of floating point for
one-offs and prototypes, even where fixed point might be better in
production. There are likely to be fewer gotchas for a beginner. If you
want to break down the design into parts, write about here. You'll get
plenty of advice, and maybe even a degree of consensus.

Jerry
--
"I view the progress of science as ... the slow erosion of the
tendency to dichotomize." Barbara Smuts, U. Mich.
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