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Too bad we live in the kind of world where the biggest hearing aid manufacturer will read this, raise additional capital, buy the patent & rights to the $1 hearing aid and then sell hearing aids for $5,000 each they'll bill to medicare and big health insurance co.

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Patent this? This is just a microphone, an amplifier and a headphone jack. That's the most obvious thing.

There is no real innovation here. The work being done here is closer to a market research: find the cheapest components that do the job.

Cheap is also its only quality. $5000 hearing aids are better in every other aspect. It makes no sense for big hearing aid manufacturers to use anything about this design.

It does seem like a bit of a missed opportunity - even slipping in the most basic ots equaliser or dsp would add a minimal amount to the BOM, whilst moving from a late 70s format aid to late 80s, albeit in a dated form factor. (Chest worn isn't too terrible IME, but expect to replace the "wiring harness" to the earphones on a regular basis.)

You can already buy cheap amplifiers like this on Amazon.

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