Ain't Tecnology Marvellous .....

[dannyboy]

..... or frightening?

To cut a long story short, I have been to see the audiologist this afternoon to get my hearing aids adjusted. It is quite amazing what the lady could do just by playing about with her computer. The lady altered the settings so that her voice sounded even nicer than it was when I walked into her room and has, hopefully, cut out a bit of background noise, although, apparently, she could not do too much because of the type of hearing loss I have. However, I can already tell there is a difference. What makes the technology marvellous, (or frightening), is the fact that the lady told me how long I had had the hearing aids switched on since I got them!   : Obviosly the hearing aids 'talk' to some system somewhere - all done without wires.  Don't start me on the new car - I can lock/unlock it from miles away, I can start the engine when I am sat having my breakfast, (will come in handy in winter), I can even find directions to almost anywhere and send them to the car, so it knows where it is going and as for the fact that it can, (almost), drive itself, flippin' 'eck. 
I know a lot of the above is 'old hat', but when I think back to when I was a young 'un, things like this were not even science fiction!

[Newportnobby]

I have had a gizmo on my bedside table for 6 years since my bypass. Every Monday it starts flashing to remind me to let it 'read' my internal defibrillator. It then transmits the results via wifi to Boston Scientific Labs so that Blackpool hospital can get access from them. They know if it's actually gone off (I'm in trouble if that's the case as I have to stop driving for 6 months) and how the battery level is. This saves me having to physically go to Blackpool hospital every 3 months. I only travel there once a year.

[woodbury22uk]

I discovered recently that my hearing aids record a number of "health" features the most useful of which is a pedometer. I have calibrated it against me counting steps and it is accurate unless I do that thing that "hard of hearing" folk do which is to nod a lot as if being able to hear and understand somebody mumbling in front of them. You can fool some of the technology with some careful planning.