Has anyone heard about the Sound detection device called EARZZ?

Assistive Listening Devices
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Hey Everyone,

I hope you’re all doing well. I recently stumbled upon something called EARZZ, and I’m curious if anyone else here has heard of it or tried it out. It’s a solution related to sound recognition, and as someone who’s always on the lookout for innovative tech, I’m intrigued.

From what I gather, EARZZ is an AI-powered system that helps identify and recognise various sounds and alerts you on your devices. It’s designed to assist individuals with hearing challenges, which I think is a fantastic initiative.

Before diving in and giving it a shot, I wanted to reach out to this community to see if anyone has any experience with EARZZ. Have you used it? Does it live up to the claims? Is it user-friendly? I’d love to hear your thoughts and insights if you’ve come across it.

Additionally, if anyone has tips on how to get started with EARZZ or if there are any important considerations I should keep in mind, please feel free to share.

Looking forward to your responses, and thanks in advance for your input!

Best regards,

2 Likes
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Just want to mention that the iPhone has a similar sound recognition function.

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Looks like the powerful function comes from having multiple remote microphones, so that’s a little different than having a cellphone in your pocket recognizing sounds.

Not necessarily a product for hearing impaired.

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I know it’s not explicitly for the hearing impaired. I am looking at the use cases and how relevant it would be to be aware of sounds at home. I’d definitely give it a try.

Also thinking about getting notifications on smartwatches makes it easier compared to other alerting devices available in the market, most of which alert for one thing per time.

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You are right. But the iPhone requires one to leave the phone behind in rooms where you want to listen for sounds. This takes away that dependency from what I have read.

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Hi @James_O
Interested in your experiences with this device…
Not very much respons until now unfortunately on your topic. As I expected that many people would chame in as we all have the same lifestyle problems I assume.

As a hearing impaired I am also very interested in what the future could bring us to enlighten our lifes https://www.earzz.com/
Did you finally used it?

There are special devices for hearing impaired people as connection to smoke alarm, doorbells, baby alarm, phones etc. which can be combined to flashing lights and vibrating utilities. They afaik all miss the extra options of precisely defining the additional information of differentiating between heard sounds. There are software apps for that to, but it becomes a mess if you have to couple all these lose instances/ capabilities.

Indeed this earzz give some important crucial extra information if you have your cellphone with you. But if you are for instance temporarily in another room than your phone the scenario changes. Another problem is when you get a rest and take of your HA’s vibrating utilities and or flashing lights could still help you out detecting needed information.

So what I think you finally would need is a combination of these two options: the earzz together with a warning system as for instance “Lisa RF smart” Dutch site promoting Lisa or “Visit” Dutch site explaining Visit // sorry for the Dutch links; use your browser’s translate to make it readable/ understandable.

Would be nice to hear your thoughts and maybe already experiences with the Earzz

Kind regards Emile

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Hello @emile.heilbron

Yes, I did try it and currently still using it.

My experience thus far:

Sounds Library
It currently listens for about 16 sounds, I currently use it to listen for appliance beeps (no more setting the timer on my phone to track washer loads or microwave beeps), doorbells - this is particularly comforting as I tend to always miss the flashing lights when not in the same room to know someone is at my door, Alarms - my smoke alarm tends to go off often so this helps me know when that has happened, Cat Meow - I have a cat that tends to go out every now and then, so this is helpful as I know when she’s back home for a treat.

Ease of Use
It is quite easy to use. I like the alerts better. It sends me visual and haptic alerts on my smartwatch and mobile phone. That’s brilliant! The most intriguing for me is that I don’t even have to be at home to know what’s going on. When I am away at work, this let’s me know when my cat is back from her little wonders. Comparing it to the sound recognition on my iPhone, I don’t have to leave my device behind and drain my battery in the same vein. I just leave my Earzz in the kitchen and my hallway to do the job of listening and alerting.

Accuracy
This is where I was impressed. 90% of the times I got alerted and checked out what I got alerted for, it was right. Not even sure how I can explain it. There are some sounds that I would love it to detect but I guess we’ll see how that goes.

I read on their website that smart home integration will be coming - using IFTTT to automate actions. I am already imaging the ability to play the notifications through my hearing aid. That will be mind blowing.

So far, it works well and I am still using it to see how well it works. For the price and how much a flashing light costs, I am not even bothered.

I’d check out Lisa RF Smart as well.

Warm regards,
James

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Hi James,

Thank you so much for your helpful information.
As I read a lot of information about this new device on kickstarter I already was impressed by it’s possibilities and the easy handling.
Although I did not go for it at the time of introduction.
Kickstarter Earzz first bakers
Good also to read the comments on kickstarter which answers many questions I would have asked you but now can skip.

I would highly recommend the forum visitors to have a look at the quoted link for further reading/ information.
Seems to be a must have for hearing impaired people…

Hope you don’t mind and would respond to my further list of questions.

Are you a first baker?
Are you a club member of Earzz? Standard or Plus member? Is it worth it? //As the benefits are clear and the price difference is not very big.
How many Earzz do you use at your home? //As 6 would be the max at the moment?
I assume that when you are not in UK you had to pay additional tax?
It seems to use only WiFi 2.4 GHz band which will give it more range, but is not very future proof as WiFi6E already functioning in my place and WiFi 7 on its way. What is your opinion?

Also really looking forward to the promised future of home integration as f.i. Alexa and others.

Thanks in advance,
Emile

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Just got some extra information from Earzz today about connection with some HA brands directly. Unfortunately not my Phonaks at the moment…

Quote of my received email following here:

Thank you for your inquiry and your interest in Earzz. I’d be happy to provide you with more information.

Earzz is smart alerting device that can be used to assist users for specific sounds, starting from sounds that offer convenience to our lives at home (doorbells, knocks, buzzers etc.) to sounds that offer some additional peace of mind (like alarms) to those relating to health (like coughs, snoring etc.). Full list of sounds can be found here.

Earzz detects the sounds and sends an alert to connected smart devices (iOS and Android) through the Earzz app.

IFTTT integration feature - expected launch Oct 2023:
We are now building in IFTTT integrations as we speak which we expect to launch this month which takes Earzz’s integration capability one step further. Just for the Earzz Club members (i.e., the subscribed purchasers), we would offer the ability to integrate Earzz to other smart home devices via IFTTT. So you can not only get alerted for the sounds you want, but also perform automated tasks based on the sounds.

As examples:
Knock at the door? Switch on the porch light!
Washer beep? Send an announcement on smart speaker that the washing is done!
Dog barking? Activate pet feeder

As part of the integrations we are also configuring applets for better assisted alerting - some of the applets that we are looking to get published this month are listed below:

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Following your email, I have also now had a look at the applet list that we are working on and we have multiple applets that integrate Earzz with Philips Hearlink and Oticon hearing aids, as these are both currently IFTTT compatible - So if a sound is heard by Earzz, then you could send an announcement via Philips Hearlink / on your Oticon Hearing aid. You could also increase the volume of your hearing aid. Phonak however does not appear to be on the list currently as they appear to not be offering IFTTT integrations.

As for other alerting capabilities, you could also configure an IFTTT applet to switch on the light or blink lights in the house or even change the colour of the bulb when specific sounds are heard as shown above.

This of course requires that you have smart devices that are IFTTT compatible and also a free or paid IFTTT account.

Purchasing Options:
Becoming a Earzz club member, offers full access to the sounds (existing and new) and also all the features (existing and new). We have audible sound notification coming as well which you will get access to as part of the membership plan. The price will be £7.99/month (billed annually) with the first device free. Additional devices will be discounted too. So if purchasing three devices, the upfront fee for purchasing these will indeed be lower than one-off purchases. One off purchase on the other hand gives you life time access to the sound recognition capability but you will need to buy upgrades for new feature access.

If you would like to go with the membership purchase, here are the costs:

Earzz Membership (First Device goes Free) £95.88
Additional Devices (2) £159.98
Shipping £25.00
Total £280.86

Regarding your request, any products purchased needs to conform with our standard Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy listed here. Please let me know if you are happy to proceed with the purchase on this basis.

With respect to Earzz into your existing systems, you’ll be pleased to know that Earzz is designed to work alongside your current alerting systems. There’s no need to replace your doorbells, smoke alarms, phone call alerts, or alarm systems. Earzz can recognise and notify you of most of these sounds, providing an additional layer of awareness and convenience.

If you have any further questions or need additional assistance, please don’t hesitate to ask. We’re here to help.

Many thanks,

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Hey Emile,

Great work on reaching out to Earzz. I live in the UK, so it was pretty straightforward to purchase. I am not sure of the tax bit.

I got the membership for myself, and I have 2 in my home: 1 in my kitchen, 1 by my door or what is to be called a hallway (UK houses can be small). I believe the 6 sounds are per device, so I can do 12 sounds. Looking to add a 3rd though. Should have got it when I made the order.

2.4Ghz wifi is readily available, so I am not really bothered much about that.

The IFTTT they have pointed out is quite exciting. Sorry about the feedback on Phonak. I guess they might be able to support that in the future. I have some felt smart lights in my home, so I can definitely automate colour changes as alerting options. Superb!

I think you should go for it, works well enough for me and the smart features coming would be an incredible layer on the capabilities.

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OK, so you don’t post an audiogram, and I have to ask: do you own/wear hearing aids?

I have Phonak Lumity Life aids, and by golly I can hear the washer/dryer end-of-cycle sounds upstairs from where I’m sitting. I have apps on my Android phone to stream the front gate, doorbell, text notifications and missed phone calls (along with the actual phone call, which rings and streams directly into my aids).

I hear the microwave and tea kettle end-of-cycle, smoke alarms when battery needs changing, wine fridge if door is left open, printer upstairs spitting out paper, ADT alert when any window or door is opened, in short, I can’t think of any reason why I need one more nagging noise app to “alert” what I’m already hearing.

Am I missing something? Is this app for someone who does NOT wear aids? If so - lots of potential uses! But the whole point of my wearing excellent aids is to actually HEAR the sounds that normal-hearing folks would without even thinking twice about it.

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Thank you @James_O for your additional information.

@1Bluejay

As James states “someone who’s always on the lookout for innovative tech” I am also looking for the new tech on the internet. And my Audi at the university hospital told me I was a candidate for additional aid utilities and gave me some prospects to read. So now trying to dive into it… this topic caught my attention.

So here are some use cases of interest for me personally! As my HA’s do miss some futures my ears had when they where still functioning.

I was complaining about not hearing the doorbell as I missed deliveries at my door. There are 4 entries at my apartment… with 2 different tunes/ doorbells.
Actually I am sitting sometimes at the balcony or I am watching TV or streaming from my tablet or listening/ streaming music. The sound is much better if streamed in my HA than when I pick it up by the HA without streaming so that’s why I stream a lot. And then the alerts of additional utilities could help me a lot.

My mate is starting to talk to me sometimes and I have to wait until I can see her in front of me, then ask her to repeat her story as she not always seems to realize I am “off-line”. It would be great if I had the information of her presence before so I could anticipate earlier because I hear the door slamming or whatever.

If I am on the phone I turn down the environment sounds to have a better speech- recognition. (great future of an optional small turning wheel at my Phonaks Virto I have). Thereby reducing my ability to hear doorbells or or other sounds which could be of importance. This also is the case if I stream other things.

Sometimes f.i. when I sleep I will not hear the smoke alarm or the doorbell or the telephone etc. In these cases it would be nice to have something warning me. Light flashes could be of interest in such cases.
My landline phone could also be alerted if I am resting without my aids in my ears.

I do not own pets, but my neighbors do and I would like to be informed as one sneaks in over the balcony so I could save my fish or meat in the kitchen or be aware of its presence in my home.

As too much noise is coming in on my HA’s sometimes even from more than one side, I have a hard time differentiating in what exactly I hear. I could ask if someone heard the noise also, but if I am alone I can become nervous if I cannot recognize what I heard. So an alerting system giving me a clue could be helpful.

I wear my handy with me very often, but not always. So actually only the phone function keeping me alert is not enough. But my home is equipped with WiFi all over the place so my Alexa giving warnings or the WIZ lightening would be of interest also.

These are some examples where I think something could be helpful, maybe Earzz or other solutions.

Thanks for any help offered as I often feel disabled despite my excellent hearing aids which I am very happy to be able to make use of.
Emile

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OK, NOW you have my attention! I am in the same boat there. A bomb could go off and I’d be none the wiser at night with no aids IN. :astonished:

I’ve managed to get around some of the other uses you mention with technology installed by my dear hubs. Doorbell and gate sounds distinct ringtone in my aids; I stream phone calls, so never have a prob with ambient sound. Do you also have a cell phone with Bluetooth to stream calls?

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I stream every sound I can if possible, so also my phones indeed. The listening quality is much more convenient and better. Although if I listen to good quality BT headphones I could also enjoy music and speech without the HA’s.
Without amplifying it becomes a hard job although my hearing seems to be a lot better then yours.
But I really like the possibility of Phonak’s to regulate the ambient sound which give the opportunity to partly not miss bells etc.

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That’s GREAT!! I know I’m missing many features by NOT using MyPhonak app on a cell phone, but dangit, I’m TIRED of everyone wanting a piece of me through my PHONE. Tracking, recording, documenting, selling my contact info. So I still haven’t explored all the controls given in that app. :smirk:

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Can imagine that. If the only reason is that and you don’t mind wearing extra accesories you could go for that option. I hate it having remote controls and cellphones and camera’s in my pocket. But I do have multiple devices as iPhones iPods Androids and remotes all over the place all to have convenience in my live. Mind you, can be very distractive and not very useful too.

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WELL SAID! As I sit here going on my 2nd hour at the Forum when I’ve got chores to do and places to go, LOL! :laughing: