I surmise that not many subscribers to birding-aus also subscribe to
<naturerecordists>, a mailing list in the United States. And I am sure that
many more subscribers suffer high frequency hearing loss, as I do myself.
So does Lang Elliott in America, and he has done something about it. From
his March 1 posting to naturerecordists:
"I myself have severe high frequency deafness and I have
been active for years in developing a solution to my own problem. The
SongFinder is the invention of myself and my engineer partner Herb Susmann.
It is designed for birders who are high frequency deaf but who can still
hold a conversation without using hearing aids. It takes high bird and
insect sounds in the 3-10 kHz range (and higher for the SongFinder Plus) and
then pitch-lowers these sounds into a range where one's hearing is normal.
There are three "divide-by" algorithms employed in the Basic unit: 1/2, 1/3,
and 1/4.
"The device is absolutely amazing in the field. Utilizing a binaural headset
fitted with full range condensor mikes, the user is not only able to hear
the high bird sounds but is also able to determine the location of singers
in the surroundings. The pitch-lowered sounds are clean and natural, and
seem to come from "out there" in 3D space."
Another naturerecordist responded with:
"I am blessed with excellent hearing. I have used this
device to locate insects that are singing at frequencies that are too high
for human hearing. It is an amazing device with a true sense of space. It
is very easy to locate birds or insects using it. I am very glad to see
that it is now in production and will be recommending it to several people
that I know could benefit from it."
Wil Hershberger
If you want to check it out, this is the address:
www.naturesound.com/songfinder/songfinder.html
Certainly sounds like it fills a long felt want!
Cheers
Syd
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