[access-uk] Re: Noise-reduction Headphones was Re: Sirecogniser dealer
- From: "Andy Collins" <andy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2008 11:39:59 -0000
Thanks Ray, it's good to have this extra info -
Andy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ray's Home" <rays-home@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, February 10, 2008 11:22 PM
Subject: [access-uk] Re: Noise-reduction Headphones was Re: Sirecogniser
dealer
| Not much to add to Caroline's thorough explanation of noise cancelling
| headphones and the PX250 headphones. Might be worth adding a bit
| though, especially as I used the phones a lot while I was away a few
| days.
|
| One thing that is good about them is you don't miss announcements on
| trains while wearing them. Very low frequency rumble of diesel
| engines and low pitched continuous noise falls away substantially.
| Its all done by phase cancellation and the lower the frequency the
| more effective it seems to be. You can wear them simply to reduce
| surrounding noise if you're feeling stressed. I should add though
| that in quieter surroundings like the hotel bedroom at Windermere I
| stayed in, you do hear a small amount of hiss from the active part of
| the phones. There was some sort of fan near the bedroom which was
| slightly intrusive and this went away with the headphones turned on.
|
| The PX250 takes two AAA batteries. When these are dead the phones
| still work, but without noise cancelling. I find the little box in
| the lead a bit annoying and it makes them a bit less easy to stow away
| quickly. Some more expensive models have noise cancelling built in to
| the phones themselves, notably the Boss ones, but they're very
| expensive. I do also have a pair of Audio Technica noise cancelling
| headphones now which sell for around £120.00. As well as effective
| noise cancelling they are also closed back headphones so rejection of
| outside noise is very good indeed. I fancy too that the Audio
| Technica phones amplify the sound a bit, but that doesn't degrade the
| sound quality, which is excellent.
|
| From Ray
| I can be contacted off-list at:
| mailto:ray-48@xxxxxxxx
|
|
| -----Original Message-----
| Caroline Ford
| Subject: [access-uk] Re: Noise-reduction Headphones was Re:
| Sirecogniser
| dealer
|
|
| Andy,
|
| As Ray hasn't come back to you on this one yet, I thought I'd jump in
| as I
| got a pair of Sennheiser PXC250 noise cancelling, or noise reduction,
| headphones for Christmas.
|
| The headphones come with a battery pack with one switch on it which
| activates the noise-reduction feature. On the set I have, the battery
| compartment can't be detached from the headphones, but it is fairly
| small so
| isn't too annoying to have to carry around. When noise reduction is
| activated, the headphones drastically reduce the low-end frequencies
| produced by planes, buses, etc, so you don't have that annoying rumble
| to
| interfere with what you're listening to. They're also useful for
| reducing
| all kinds of background chatter you get in open-plan offices, or if
| someone
| else in the same room is watching TV and you don't want it to distract
| you.
| As a result, I find you can turn down the volume of what you're
| listening to
| compared with the level you would need if the background noise was
| still
| there.
|
| I've been very pleased with mine.
|
| HTH,
|
| Caroline.
|
| -----Original Message-----
| From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On
| Behalf
| Of Andy Collins
| Sent: 06 February 2008 09:09
| To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
| Subject: [access-uk] Re: Sirecogniser dealer
|
|
| Ray - How do noise cancelling headphones work? I've never tried a
| pair; what
| noise are they cancelling? -
|
| Andy
| ----- Original Message -----
| From: "Ray's Home" <rays-home@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
| To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
| Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2008 11:48 PM
| Subject: [access-uk] Re: Sirecogniser dealer
|
|
|| Jackie, though my situation isn't that similar to yours, I share the
|| not having holidays - well not for near five years now - and as for
|| drinking, ar less than I used to, and I'v never smoked.
||
|| When it comes to gadgets I'm less of a play being than I used to be,
|| and now view them rather more in the light of their usefulness to me
|| than their sex appeal! That's why I'm not overtly fashion concious
|| when it comes to techy stuff, and far more into how easy it is to
| use
|| and whether it will play a substantial part in my dailly life,
| rather
|| than it gathering dust after the buzz.
||
|| The one device I've bought recently that does these things for me is
|| the Victor Stream which I wouldn't be without now. In fact it has
|| replaced my RNIB supplied DAISY player which blew up recently
| anyway.
|| To me the Stream is rare in providing (in access tech terms) pretty
|| good value for money, though maybe it should have been released
| after
|| they'd worked on the firmware a bit more, but they've got that right
|| in a short time. It is a device I use dailly and the notetaking
|| facility is really good too.
||
|| Has to be added though that I bought the Stream at the special offer
|| price, and it does go for a higher price now I believe, which is
|| unfortunate, because ten or twenty quid knocked off the near £200.00
|| price tag could mean a worthwhile saving to many without it seems to
|| me, HumanWare chort changing itself.
||
|| Maybe the other thing that's made a difference to listening on the
|| move is noise cancelling headphones which really do increase
|| enjoyment. Not so high up in the value for money stakes, but again
|| something I have never thought was a mistake in buying.
||
|| I could indeed benefit to some exstent from something like the KNFB
|| reader which has text enlargement amongst its abilities. Still, it
|| has to come down to the level of an up-market screen reader - say
|| five - six hundred quid - before I would consider it is maybe money
|| well spent. Let's face it, as it turns out its the image correction
|| and porcessingprocessing that's the more inovative stuff, not the
|| actual OCR that is now pretty 'old technology'.
||
|| By the way, didn't someone - seems yonks back now - mention a tech
|| subsidy scheme operating in Canada? Seems to me that possibly a
| lump
|| sum payable every five years or so wouldn't be a bad idea. Given
| the
|| present setup though, that would only go to help sustain these silly
|| margins being earned by distributers. As if they needed any
|| encouragement! Could end up subbing what, after all, are probably
|| rather inefficient outfits.
||
|| All this said, I do hope that, at whatever price, this new software
|| does turn out to be much more than a plaything, and I look forward
| to
|| hearing of the positive advantages of having it by those who do
| decide
|| they can afford it.
||
|| Cheers,
||
||
||
|| From Ray
|| I can be contacted off-list at:
|| mailto:ray-48@xxxxxxxx
||
||
|| -----Original Message-----
|| Of Jackie Cairns
|| Subject: [access-uk] Re: Sirecogniser dealer
||
||
|| Hi Ray
||
|| Everybody knows what they can and can't afford (hopefully), and must
|| make a
|| decision based on their own circumstances. When there is something
|| out
|| there that really enthuses Ian and I, we discuss whether it's
|| worthwhile
|| saving hard for it, or whether it isn't that important, or even
|| whether to
|| wait to see what develops. In some ways, we can say that both of us
|| will
|| benefit from a piece of access kit as we are in the same boat.
| Also,
|| holidays aren't a priority for us because we find it difficult to go
|| to
|| strange places without relying on sighted input anyway. And we are
|| both of
|| the mind that the access tech will give us more pleasure long term
|| (most of
|| the time) than a few holiday memories. We don't drink or smoke,
| which
|| are
|| our choices, but we do spend a lot of time fiddling about with our
|| bits and
|| pieces.
||
|| That doesn't justify the cost of access kit, of course, but it helps
|| us to
|| work out what we need, what is important to help us live
|| independently, and
|| whether the financial outlay is worthwhile.
||
|| There are times when both of us would sacrifice robotic gadgetry for
|| human
|| voices and sighted assistance at every turn, but that isn't likely
| to
|| happen, so we just do our best with what we have. If we can afford
|| something, we buy. If not, we just say: "Oh well another day" and
|| move on.
||
|| That sums it up for me on this one.
||
|| Jackie
|| Email: cairnsplace@xxxxxxx
|| Skype Name: Cairnsplace
|| ----- Original Message -----
|| From: "Ray's Home" <rays-home@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
|| To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
|| Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2008 10:40 PM
|| Subject: [access-uk] Re: Sirecogniser dealer
||
||
|| > Jackie, you do raise a very pertinent question here as to how you
|| > arrive at deciding whether the present portable recognition
| software
|| > etc is worth it.
|| >
|| > I'll own up and say that I'm very fortunate as of now in not
| really
|| > needing it, but I do hate the injustice of the pricing and the
|| > bleeding dry of people who do need it. Still what is 'need'? is
| it
|| > that difficult when out and about to get things like menus read?
|| Are
|| > their other situations where you'd see yourself time and time
| again
|| > using this sort of aid? Maybe you want to know where the loo is,
|| but
|| > could you wave one of these things around for it to find it for
| you?
|| > How many instances do you find where no one's about to help?
|| >
|| > How about living at home? What would this sort of portable device
|| > offer over and above a scanner with OCR software? Sure a few
| might
|| > chip in and spell this out. My reason for asking is that surely
| how
|| > much and when you'd use it must decide whether its a good or
|| rational
|| > use of money that maybe could be used for other things.
|| >
|| > I'd say simply sit back and ask yourself these questions and ask
|| > yourself, is it worth it to me now, at this price level? The only
|| way
|| > suppliers are going to get the message about over pricing is if
| you
|| > decline to throw so much money their way and refuse to be a milch
|| cow.
|| > That indeed is a choice some will end up making.
|| >
|| > Raises interesting questions about the nature of independence too
|| and
|| > whether that means doing everything unaided by human
| intervvention.
|| > Personally I'd value good human assistance in many instances while
|| out
|| > doing things, and this simply isn't offered me.
|| >
|| > Cheers,
|| > Ray.
|| >
|| > From Ray
|| > I can be contacted off-list at:
|| > mailto:ray-48@xxxxxxxx
|| >
|| >
|| > -----Original Message-----
|| > Jackie Cairns
|| > Subject: [access-uk] Re: Sirecogniser dealer
|| >
|| >
|| > Hi Andy
|| >
|| > That is the difficulty with buying anything that is going to bleed
|| you
|| > dry.
|| > You either jump in and then think: "shit I should have waited," or
|| aim
|| > to
|| > buy later, only to be confronted with something bigger, better and
|| > even more
|| > costly.
|| >
|| > It's a very tricky one, a subject that will rage forever with no
|| > definitive
|| > answer to be had I'm afraid.
|| >
|| > If you don't have access to work, it's a case of either doing the
|| > charity
|| > rounds, living like a recluse until you can afford something - by
|| > which time
|| > the next best thing is out there - or maybe do the Lottery or
|| > something
|| > (smile).
|| >
|| > Jackie
|| >
|| > Email: cairnsplace@xxxxxxx
|| > Skype Name: Cairnsplace
|| > ----- Original Message -----
|| > From: "Andy Collins" <andy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
|| > To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
|| > Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2008 5:51 PM
|| > Subject: [access-uk] Re: Sirecogniser dealer
|| >
|| >
|| >> Ah! Jackie, I'm not surprised Steve omited to answer this in his
|| > replies
|| >> about this gadget <smile> not his fault no doubt, but too
| expensive
|| > to
|| >> justify, and the thing is, with lots of this tech stuff, it never
|| > really
|| >> gives value for money, as it will be superseeded in a couple of
|| > years.
|| >> It's
|| >> tricky as I have always said, to work out when to buy expensive
|| kit,
|| > and
|| >> how
|| >> long to hold out for something better, being inconvenienced in
| the
|| > mean
|| >> time!
|| >>
|| >> For many, with all this stuff being so expensive, they will only
| be
|| > able
|| >> to
|| >> aford to buy once, if at all, so I understand the tendency to
| hold
|| > off
|| >> buying in favour of an upgraded or superior device later down the
|| > line -
|| >>
|| >> Andy
|| >> ----- Original Message -----
|| >> From: "Jackie Cairns" <cairnsplace@xxxxxxx>
|| >> To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
|| >> Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2008 5:36 PM
|| >> Subject: [access-uk] Re: Sirecogniser dealer
|| >>
|| >>
|| >> |I believe Andy that it is £2,700 with training, which is
|| > recommended.
|| >> But
|| >> | if you insist on going it alone, it is £2,500.
|| >> |
|| >> | Jackie
|| >> |
|| >> | Email: cairnsplace@xxxxxxx
|| >> | Skype Name: Cairnsplace
|| >> | ----- Original Message -----
|| >> | From: "Andy Collins" <andy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
|| >> | To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
|| >> | Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2008 4:57 PM
|| >> | Subject: [access-uk] Re: Sirecogniser dealer
|| >> |
|| >> |
|| >> | > Mark - can you post that link please?
|| >> | >
|| >> | > Also, has anybody yet gained an idea of the cost of this
|| > device -
|| >> Steve
|| >> | > hasn't come back on this one! -
|| >> | >
|| >> | > Andy
|| >> | > ----- Original Message -----
|| >> | > From: "Mark Threadgold" <m.j.threadgold@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
|| >> | > To: "accessuk list" <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
|| >> | > Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2008 4:23 PM
|| >> | > Subject: [access-uk] Sirecogniser dealer
|| >> | >
|| >> | >
|| >> | > |i all.
|| >> | > |
|| >> | > | I found a review of the sirecogniser by Brian Hartgen done
| at
|| > sight
|| >> | > village.
|| >> | > |
|| >> | > |
|| >> | > | It states the uk distributors are Micro Link PC.
|| >> | > |
|| >> | > | This is incorrect. I contacted Micro Link PC and they
| never
|| > got
|| >> further
|| >> | > | than the initial talks with the manufacturers at sight
|| > village.
|| >> | > |
|| >> | > | Don't know who is the distributer, bight help someone else
|| > avoid
|| >> | > contacting
|| >> | > | the wrong people.
|| >> | > |
|| >> | > | Mark Threadgold
|
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