Nina KalininaFeb 2

I'm yet again reminded that accessibility technologies are priced unfairly. Did you know that a pair of hearing aids starts at roughly £500 but an average model can easily cost over £1500? And it's not like it's rocket science.
Similarly, Braille displays start at £1500, but can easily cost over £5000.
Similarly, the most popular and one of the most affordable Braille printers costs almost £3000.

Something can be said about special design requirements for such devices, or about the fact that there is no demand to make them at the scale that would allow to cut the costs ten times. And I can't even say that a high price is an excuse; if you'd try to build a Braille embosser that can operate at practical speeds with decent reliability using off the shelf components, you are likely to spend more money on it than you'd spend getting a commercial solution, even without R&D costs.

So, uh, folks, we can do better. I can't be the only one who keeps thinking about making such technologies cheaper, right?

Show threadaeva
@nina_kali_nina a small bit of good news for people in the US with moderate hearing loss is our laws have been updated recently to allow the sale of hearing aids without requiring an expensive prescription or an audiologist. this has greatly brought down the cost. (I assume the ones rated for severe hearing loss that you need a prescription for are probably still absurdly expensive though)
Feb 2 at 2:00amWeb
Show threadaevaFeb 2
@nina_kali_nina valve has been fond of touch pads with subtle haptics in their controllers, and I've been wondering how far they'll be able to push that technology. I doubt they're anywhere near to being useful for braille yet, but it makes me think that cheap mass produced haptic elements could probably be used for something.
Show threadaevaFeb 2
@nina_kali_nina I'm sure at least one wearable computing nerd has already used a tiny vibrator and some gpio pins to rig up a morse code bash shell by now.
Show threadNina KalininaFeb 2
@aeva likely, but morse code is painfully slow :(
Show threadKirtai 🏳️‍⚧️Feb 2
@aeva @nina_kali_nina
Why a tiny vibrator?
Show threadNina KalininaFeb 2
@kirtai @aeva practical reasons
Show threadDBFeb 2
@aeva @nina_kali_nina Would it be possible to provide a citation to the updated laws? I’m interested in following up regarding hearing aids
Show threadaevaFeb 2
@lawyersgunsnmoney @nina_kali_nina search for the text "OTC Act" in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearing_aid and you'll get a summary + some links for further reading.
Hearing aid - Wikipedia

Show threadaevaFeb 2
@lawyersgunsnmoney @nina_kali_nina I found out when my mom got hearing aids, they just had her get them at costco. I also got the same recommendation from the audiologist I saw last year should I decide I want to try them out (I have severe hearing loss in one ear, but because my other is fine it's apparently a mixed bag whether or not I'll benefit much from hearing aids and it takes a long time to adjust).
Show threadDBFeb 2
@aeva @nina_kali_nina Thank you! This is very helpful. I checked out Costco a few years ago and will do so again.
Show threadaevaFeb 2
@lawyersgunsnmoney @nina_kali_nina I vaguely remember they have something to help with funding, might be a very generous return policy
Show threadDBFeb 2
@aeva @nina_kali_nina It’s very kind of you to follow up, thank you! A few years ago we checked out Costco and the price of hearing aids at that time was the same as if we went through insurance. I strongly suspect that the calculation is different now so I will pursue your suggestion. Again, I very much appreciate your help!
Show threadaevaFeb 2
@nina_kali_nina @lawyersgunsnmoney good luck!