I had written a simple Clients -> Orders -> Invocies - Payment collection managing software for my company in 1998. It is still being used in 2024! I am humbled every time I see our team using it.
I was looking for software, where I could input notes of Hindi songs. And then replay them in a loop to practice singing the song. I will try your application.
My mother has been wearing Hearing Aids for over 20 years. These days she has trouble with hearing what is on TV even with a powerful hearing aid. Most times she just sits quietly in front of the TV watching moving pictures.
I have always wondered why it is so difficult to make hearing aid which can be connected to a bluetooth enabled TV or Mobile phone, so senior citizens can watch TV or talk to their loved one. Whatever is available on the market is so expensive.
They are actually two pieces, one is a match-box sized thingy that can connect to Bluetooth devices and that she wears around her neck that transmits to the devices in her ears and also has a microphone, it is very handy as she can easily answer the phone by pressing a button on it (leaving the telephone in the bag, it works as hand-free) and it also has two buttons that can regulate the volume of the hearing aids (the volume of her hearing aids can be regulated also through a teeny-tiny button on the back of the hearing aid, right hand one up, left hand down, but she simply cannot find/push them properly).
We got the above first to better adjust volume and for the telephone use, then she started getting issue with the TV and we bought the following.
Then there is a small transmitter connected to the TV that can link to the matchbox-like device (that has a fourth button to connect/disconnect to the TV device), it has both RCA plug and an optical input.
She is very, very happy of this setup for the TV, much more than what she had before (wireless headphones).
Prices are steep, to give you an idea, if I recall correctly:
They do come up on ebay - I got the tv link for my cochlear implant for £30. Yes, I was lucky. I assume it was a deceased estate sale, and I'm grateful for their consideration. A charity shop specialising in recycling of this kind of tech would fill a definite gap in the market.
The issue is the wireless protocol used by the hearing aids (which I believe it is proprietary).
The TV box thingy is like a "normal" Bluetooth transmitter for a TV, the only differences are that my mom's one has direct RCA and optical instead of an audio jack and a blue led to show it is powered and a brightish orange one to show if the connection is active, here it is:
There are bluetooth enabled hearing aids. Also you can get normal headphones with bluetooth capability. I have 60dB hearing loss and use the bluetooth headphones from time to time both with and without my hearing aids.
I feel that the biggest challenge is this: What question is VR trying to answer in this regard? What problem does this solve?
What are the impediments that keep seniors from exercising? Is the fitness market too much geared towards young bodies? Is it solving a mental hurdle to get them to exercise? Which hurdle is this? A fear of confronting the increased risk of injury? Re-connecting with (younger) people? Is it about the cost of entry? What kind of senior are you targetting? At 70, you'll have very fit seniors, and you'll have people dealing with a wide variety of health issues. What about price and affordability? What are alternatives that don't involve complex technology?
So, what does VR do? It's a medium. But like any medium, the real value is in the content you offer, and you need to keep that content fresh and engaging. How are you going to differentiate from personal trainers on DVD, television, YouTube,...?
My PT taught me a ton of simple exercises after a bad injury. There's a ton you can do with a simple elastic band and your own body weight. The most important part is to get into a routine and turn it into a habit. So, the technology shouldn't be detracting attention away from the exercise itself.
Motivation is the biggest challenge. You remember Nintendo's Wii Fit? It was awesome! Nobody uses it / talks about it anymore. That's part of the problem: there's always current tech and the expectation of the "next big thing" that draws attention away. Whereas doing exercises in later life is a sustained habit you hope to teach people across multiple years, exceeding the shelf life of technology.
At the moment the exercises are quite intense (or at least fast) so they may not all be suitable for senior players but I do already have slower exercises in the pipeline where the player needs to hold a cue and follow through with the motion (think of yoga and warmup exercises)
As for the headset. I already am used to it but I hope that the next gen headset will address the fitness aspect as well.
I am actually also eyeing those AR glasses (like the Nreal). The game mechanic and graphics are simple enough that it should be a straight forward translation, the only thing I am worried about is the narrow field of view, but even that could work since the exercises are all focused as coming from the front of the player.
