Hearing-aid hackers fine-tuning their own devices
If you are short-sighted, usually all it takes is a visit to an optician to get a pair of spectacles to help restore the world to sharp detail.
But if you suffer hearing problems, visiting an audiologist just the once will probably not restore sounds to crisp clarity. The consequent frustration is driving some people with the appropriate expertise to hack into their own hearing aids to carry out DIY improvements.
Brian Moore, professor of audiology at the University of Cambridge, explained: "It's not the same as spectacles where you know you have the right prescription. "With a hearing aid you can have an initial prescription but you will need to do some fine-tuning around that afterwards to satisfy the individual person."