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AI Summaries of Hearing Tracker Posts by Forum Members

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Edited
@gsl said:

Would it be an idea to create a document compiling all the tips for easy reference in one place?

Some forums do have wikis where dedicated forum members or admins write up articles detailing important topics of interest. That takes a lot of effort and topics are only as good as the authors behind them. Even a venerated site like Wikipedia can have trouble with source material and authorship.

As @Bimodal_user points out in a just previous post, a great source of information is Audiology Online. You can sign up for free and register for and audit courses at no charge. The much better illustration that @Bimodal_user provided illustrating how Spheric Speech directionality and aggressiveness can be modified in the MyPhonak app similarly to how it’s controlled in Target came straight out of the downloadable slides for the following Phonak Audiology Online course:
Welcome to a New ERA | 39815 | Hearing Aids - (audiologyonline.com)1

Although you always have to double-check chatbot conclusions, AI like ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and Google Gemini read Internet forums and can summarize user “facts” and opinions on all sorts of things. I think that’s the wave of the future. Just as computers can perform math a lot faster than humans can by hand, AI will eventually (if it hasn’t already) surpass humans in the ability to read, digest, and summarize (and even weigh reliability) of vast amounts of information. @AbramBaileyAuD might someday want to contemplate having AI read the forum posts and be able to summarize topic threads or even condense many posts from different threads into one topic “article.” Amazon already has an AI feature called “Rufus” the answers product questions and summarizes buyer reviews. Very POWERFUL! :astonished:

‘Amazon Rufus’ AI experience comes to the Amazon Shopping app1

There is already something primitive like that for each thread. The “Top Replies” button (beneath in the OP post in each thread) condenses a thread into the most “prominent” posts, probably based on which posts get the most likes, which might approximate the voted usefulness or enjoyability of a post.

Continued…

Maybe you’d want to get rid of the Top Replies button below the OP post in each thread then?

I don’t think the AI that’s built into Discourse would do anything but summarize human replies. It would not add any information that some forum member did not contribute.

One forum problem that precedes AI is whether forum members actually see if a topic has been addressed and answered before reposting the same query and rehashing the same topic all over again. Some forums are very rigorous and heavily moderated in keeping everything organized in a limited number of threads on specific topics (wiki-like). Some forums, members perhaps enjoy chatting more about their personal experience divorced from any previous conversations on the same subject, which leads to a more helter-skelter forum where it’s much harder to learn the overall community sentiment and knowlege because it’s scattered across dozens of different places.

So, I think AI that’s “read” every post in the forum down through time and can “understand” across threads what people have said about specific topics, specific hearing aids, and specific hearing issues would help forum users better understand their hearing and their hearing aids. Isn’t that the ultimate goal of the forum, or is it just a place to socialize? There’s nothing banning pure socialization; it can be done under almost any acceptable topic in the Social category, for example. Why ban making it easier to learn what other folks have said over time across many threads on many topics?

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Edited
@jim_lewis said: (unavailable)

Why ban making it easier to learn what other folks have said over time across many threads on many topics?

Jim I don’t think anyone wants to “ban” getting easy information, but we do have a search button (engine just needs a new turbo) so it’s actually quite easy to find information for ones self, so it’s not a bad thing for a new member to come join and then ask a question thats been answered before, and yes I think most forums are a place to “socialize” this is the human norm, something that knows nothing about ( of course AI “thinks” it knows, but we know better right) hopefully @AbramBaileyAuD will get that new post up, I think it’ll be quite interesting to see people’s views on this.

@jim_lewis / @tenkan Moved stuff here. Might need some re-arranging / rewording. Apologies, but don’t have a lot of time to help. (The process was very manual, copy pasting each post, recreating it here, and then changing post ownership)

Edited

OK. I changed the thread title from “ Summaries” to “AI Summaries of Hearing Tracker Posts by Forum Members.” Looks like some other users’ posts in the Sphere vs. Lumity shootout thread got omitted from the transfer process and have disappeared from both threads, e.g., @AbramBaileyAuD’s reply to my post that Discourse does have a plug-in to provide AI summaries of thread discussions. That’s what the purpose of this new thread is about. Might help if the AI summary feature could actually be applied to a long thread or two and forum members could actually see how it works on a limited trial basis. Or whether it was an option that forum members could turn on or off as they wished and not have to see or deal with such an interface if they didn’t want to do so.

@jim_lewis said:

Might help if the AI summary feature could actually be applied to a long thread or two and forum members could actually see how it works on a limited trial basis. Or whether it was an option that forum members could turn on or off as they wished and not have to see or deal with such an interface if they didn’t want to do so.

Yeah that’s an idea, giving the opportunity to see how this would work, i would certainly appreciate something along those lines, it worries me with all this “less human interaction” in the world today and not just on the interwebs, you look at how kids are doing right now and some 5 year olds can’t even string a sentence together, year 13 can’t have one on one interactions with their peers, is doing away with print media, yeah no need for reporters anymore
the whole she bang has a sinister aspect to it, like AI is getting smarter but as human’s are we getting “dumber” I mean why don’t I just get AI to ask my questions and let the same give me the answers, what am I learning from that!

In reply to @tenkan

@tenkan said:

Jim I don’t think anyone wants to “ban” getting easy information, but we do have a search button (engine just needs a new turbo) so it’s actually quite easy to find information for ones self, so it’s not a bad thing for a new member to come join and then ask a question thats been answered before, and yes I think most forums are a place to “socialize” this is the human norm

I don’t think the Discourse software forum SEARCH function is very good. That may be why most users don’t seem to use it. You just get a bunch of “hits” that you have to wade through, and most of the time, it doesn’t show your search term in the context of the text snippet it offers to represent what’s in any one hit.

OTH, the fact that the Discourse SEARCH function isn’t top-notch might be a hint that its “” for summarizing information on Hearing Tracker based on user inquiries isn’t going to be very good, either. I guess only if Abram furnishes some examples or provides the opportunity to test it under limited trial circumstances will we ever know.

Otherwise, we’re debating how many angels you can fit on the head of a pin! :slightly_smiling_face:

Edited

In reply to @tenkan

@tenkan said:

it worries me with all this “less human interaction” in the world today

Maybe we should all go back to booking travel over the phone with a human travel agent. Online booking with Expedia.com and Hotels.com is so dehumanizing and impersonal, just to save a few crummy bucks. I enjoyed forking over a lucrative fee to my local travel agent and all the personal chitchat she provided so much more before the dawn of the Internet…

@tenkan said:

AI is doing away with print media

Just as the Internet largely marginalized in-person human travel agents, I think you’ll find that it was the Internet that largely undermined newspapers. Why read the Podunk Junction Daily when you can read whatever news source you want from around the world for less $$$ than a print subscription delivered to your door? Some folks also think that Google News is hurting the publication industry… Google Search also stole the ad industry away from newspapers. Why should a business advertise in a local newspaper when it has an Internet site and has worked hard to come up high on a Google hit list for whatever it’s selling?

I think the real elephant in the room is not the Internet or . It’s the burgeoning human population. We’re blowing up a balloon that’s eventually going to pop. Worrying about AI is a nice diversion from other more pressing planetary concerns, IMHO. Our civilization is supported by a mountain of technology, starting with agricultural production. For most of us, there is no going back to a simple agrarian existence (let alone the hunter-gatherer mode we evolved in! :slightly_smiling_face:). Most of the tech, as in agricultural production, we take for granted and no longer consider what was once “high tech” as such. I’m for whatever will keep the human bubble from popping a while longer and whatever enriches life for an ever-increasing human population.

Edited

In reply to @AbramBaileyAuD

@AbramBaileyAuD said:

Somehow we’re onto another topic, again… but personally, I find the search pretty robust.

@tenkan raised the point that we really don’t need summaries of forum threads because the HT SEARCH function is so great. I beg to disagree. That’s my point. It would be nice to have an in-forum option digesting and summarizing posts, ideally cross-threaded to allow for all the multiple threads on the same topic, that can answer specific questions for a user. I doubt there is any group of forum members that keeps up collectively with all the posts on HT, and the SEARCH function really isn’t that big a help in understanding the “big picture” group sentiment.

The XenForo software forum SEARCH function:

image

image

image

I find the combination of XenForo SEARCH tools offered in the images above far more powerful than the Discourse filters. For one thing, the XenForo search hit snippets usually show you the search terms highlighted within the text fragment returned. Also, the XenForo hits are always sorted in reverse chronological order (newest to oldest). (The advanced search offers the option to sort by relevance to search terms instead of date). The Hearing Tracker search results aren’t sorted in chronological order and may return a bunch of archived obsolete posts before you find something of more recent relevance. And often, quotes from another post are the displayed text for a search hit when what you’re looking for is in the invisible actual reply of the poster that’s not shown in any part for a returned hit.

Maybe in the switch to the new Discourse forum software on HearingTracker.com, the “search in this topic” function wasn’t activated for a while. I only noticed it in the new forum today. I don’t see it when I go to the advanced search function. But the XenForo options for the breadth of the search are immediately apparent from the git-go (offered in a dropdown for the simple search).

Even with the XenForo search, you get a long list of hits, and you have to wade through them one by one, guessing which might be most relevant to what you’re looking for and worthy of more detailed attention, etc.
AI summaries of documents, e-mails, forums cut to the chase in answer the actual query you asked about information available in a group of documents, e-mails, or forum posts.

Edited

Example of a Hearing Tracker Forum Summary You Can Get From Microsoft Copilot Right Now:
(how recently search bots scanned HT sites may affect the answers)

(this one hijacks Matthew Allsops Phonak Sphere Infinio review):

Me: I’d like to know what they say about Phonak Audeo Sphere infinio hearing aids on the hearing tracker website

Copilot: The Hearing Tracker website has a detailed review of the Phonak Audéo Sphere Infinio hearing aids. Here are some key points from the review:

Pros:

  • Deep Sonic Chip: This -driven chip enhances speech in noisy environments, providing up to 36.7% better speech understanding compared to competitors.
  • AutoSense 6.0: This feature adapts to various environments, enhancing speech understanding by 16% and reducing listening effort by 45%.
  • Bluetooth Connectivity: Allows connection to multiple devices, high-quality streaming, and hands-free calling.
  • ActiveVent Receivers: Adjusts for different environments, offering better sound clarity for both speech and music.
  • Future-proofed: Supports , which is expected to become widely available in public venues.

Cons:

  • No Disposable Battery Option: Currently, there is no non-rechargeable option, which may be an issue for some users.
  • Potential Battery Life Issues: Intense use of AI features may reduce battery life.
  • No or System Compatibility: Missing these features could be a downside for users relying on loop systems or needing CROS support.
  • Size: Slightly larger than some competitors, which may concern those looking for ultra-discreet devices.
  • Mixed Hands-Free Calling Experience: Voice pick-up can struggle in noisy environments, leading to poor call quality.

Overall, the Phonak Audéo Sphere Infinio hearing aids are praised for their advanced technology and improved speech clarity, but there are some considerations regarding battery options and size.

Does this help with what you were looking for?

(the follow-up asks specifically for user opinion on the HT community forum):

Me: What about on the community forum associated with hearing tracker https://forum.hearingtracker.com/

Copilot: On the Hearing Tracker forum, users have shared their experiences with the Phonak Audéo Sphere Infinio hearing aids. Here are some key points from the community feedback:

Pros:

  • Noise Reduction: Many users have praised the Spheric Speech in Noise mode for significantly improving speech clarity in noisy environments.
  • Battery Life: Users have reported better battery performance compared to previous models, with some managing to use the hearing aids for up to 14-16 hours a day.
  • Bluetooth Connectivity: Users appreciate the seamless connection to multiple devices and high-quality streaming.

Cons:

  • Directionality Issues: Some users mentioned that the hearing aids work best when facing the speaker directly.
  • Audio Static: A few users experienced some static when the Sphere mode kicks in.
  • Volume Jumps: There have been reports of sudden volume changes when the hearing aids are trying to focus on speech in noisy environments.

Overall, the feedback on the Hearing Tracker forum is generally positive, with users highlighting the advanced noise reduction capabilities and improved battery life as standout features.

Does this help with what you were looking for?

Edited

For comparison, here’s how ChatGPT answers the same questions. Google Gemini completely punts on any attempted answer.
(how recently search bots scanned HT sites may affect the answers)

You said: I’d like to know what they say about Phonak Audeo Sphere infinio hearing aids on the hearing tracker website

ChatGPT said:

Searched 3 sites

The Phonak Audéo Sphere Infinio hearing aids are part of Phonak’s advanced Infinio line, featuring a dual-chip architecture that includes the ERA and DEEPSONIC chips. These chips enable enhanced sound quality and real-time -powered speech separation, making them particularly effective in noisy environments. Key features include improved speech understanding, reduced listening effort, and superior Bluetooth connectivity with support for technology. The devices are designed with durability in mind, boasting an IP68 rating for resistance to water and debris, and offer up to 16 hours of battery life on a full charge​

Hearing Tracker​

Hearing Tracker1

The Sphere models are notable for their AI-driven “Spheric Speech” clarity and enhanced noise reduction, distinguishing them from earlier Phonak models like the Lumity. While the Audéo Sphere is optimized for rechargeable use, no battery-powered receiver-in-canal () options are currently available in the Infinio lineup. Customization and fitting innovations, such as the AI Dome Proposer and biometrically calibrated in-the-ear designs, add to their appeal for personalized use​

Hearing Tracker

Hearing Tracker

For a more detailed comparison or user reviews, you can explore the Hearing Tracker website.

You said:

What about on the community forum associated with hearing tracker https://forum.hearingtracker.com/

ChatGPT said:

Searched 5 sites

On the Hearing Tracker Forum, discussions about Phonak Audeo Sphere Infinio hearing aids reveal several user experiences and technical insights:

  1. Customization and Fit: Users experimenting with custom molds versus domes found that unvented custom molds improved sound quality but introduced a noticeable occlusion effect. Adjustments in Phonak Target fitting software helped address these issues by modifying dome adaptation settings​

Hearing Aid Forum

​Hearing Aid Forum

  1. Performance Comparisons: Some users conducted personal tests comparing the Sphere program’s speech-in-noise performance with other models like Oticon Intent and Sony CRE-E10 . Results showed the Sphere offered a significant improvement in separating speech from background noise, although performance varied by individual hearing profiles and test conditions​

Hearing Aid Forum

  1. Bluetooth Connectivity: The Sphere’s connectivity features, like LE Bluetooth for app control and classic Bluetooth for streaming, were noted. Some users expressed confusion over multiple device entries in Bluetooth settings but clarified their roles for managing app controls and audio streaming​

Hearing Aid Forum

  1. Weight and Size: Early adopters highlighted that the Audeo Sphere is lightweight and compact, even compared to previous Phonak models like Paradise and Marvel​

Hearing Aid Forum

These insights illustrate a range of user satisfaction, customization options, and technical features of the Audeo Sphere Infinio hearing aids. For more detailed user experiences, you can explore the Hearing Tracker Forum.

I am going to say this I don’t need some to tell me what I can read, research and come to my own conclusions. I don’t like the AI when it wants to do the thinking for me.
Hell mankind is too lazy as it is.

These summaries do a pretty good job in many cases - the problem is that it gets it quite wrong and is very misleading in others. For instance :

@jim_lewis said:

Weight and Size: Early adopters highlighted that the Audeo Sphere is lightweight and compact, even compared to previous Phonak models like Paradise and Marvel​

is quite wrong. There are several other instances like that (or half truths) in the summaries. I certainly would not trust any summaries that I knew little or nothing about as being useful.

Also there are often a few posts that slip in useful hints and tips which are most useful in these long threads. These seem to be entirely missed. AI is no substitute as yet…

@jim_lewis said:

One forum problem that precedes AI is whether forum members actually see if a topic has been addressed and answered before reposting the same query and rehashing the same topic all over again.

summaries (useful, or cursory and misleading, take your pick) will be based on existing forum content (valuable and supportive discussions tailored to the individual, or repetitive meatbag emissions, take your pick). If you succeed in diverting some forum traffic to AI summaries, then there’ll be less forum content in the future. Worst case, forum participation will fall below the critical mass needed to sustain it, and AI output will become less and less relevant as time goes on.

@jim_lewis our forum has all the same search functionality.

  1. Type your search term into search bar
  2. Press enter
  3. Click on “More…” at the bottom
  4. On the search page click on “Advanced filters”

I shared a screenshot of this before, but it seems like you missed it.

Regarding the summaries, I tested it out with Gemeni Flash:

image

Edited

In reply to @AbramBaileyAuD

Actually, Abram, there is something VERY wonky about the Advanced filter and sorting of forum hits.

TLDR: If you only use the simple find, your search results will be governed by a hidden HT sort order not obvious to the user, either the HT default order or the last user-chosen sort order, even from a previous HT visit. If you do use filtering search terms as a keyword, e.g. “order:oldest …,” these will be overriden by your previous remembered HT search order parameter, as soon as you get out of Simple Search by going to the hamburger menu choices or the Advanced Filters. Would be nice to have an obvious user discoverable interface and not hidden functionality that doesn’t help the user.

I previously stated the following:

@jim_lewis said:

The Hearing Tracker search results aren’t sorted in chronological order and may return a bunch of archived obsolete posts before you find something of more recent relevance.

This is true for me (and I presume others) when you first launch the simple search. Here’s what I see, the important part being IF I DON"T PUT IN ANY SEARCH KEYWORDS:

image
or if I click on the hamburger menu in the search box:
image
There is no choice of sorting order.

If I go to the Advanced Filter, here’s what I see:

image
Still no choice of sort order.

If I go back to the simple filter and use the filtering term “order:oldest,” which is official Discourse search terminology (see Searching for content effectively - Documentation / Using Discourse - Discourse Meta), then I get the follownig results, sorted in ascending chronological order, as requested.

image

As soon as I click on the hamburger menu in the search box, though, some local site programming takes over. The SEARCH sorting box appears for the very first time. You only see sorting options under the hamburger menu view or Advanced Filters when you’ve entered search terms in the search box. Whatever last search term was used is the default sorting order used. Since in fooling around LATEST was the last sort order I used, that overrides my search term filter “order:oldest.” There is no way, once the on-site search sorting has been invoked, to sort from oldest to newest. The HT site screws Discourse functionality.

image
In the next screen below, MOST LIKED was my sort order choice from a previous HT session. So, that remembered site sorting order choice (which doesn’t show until I invoke the hamburger menu or Advanced Filter), suddenly upsets the applecart of my desired “order:oldest” sort.
image

So, whatever the HT default sort order is or whatever you last managed to invoke as an official HT sort order, that is remembered and always applied to future searches. If I sorted on “Most Liked,” close my browser, and come back to HT some time later, all my searches will be sorted by Most Liked but there is no indication in the Simple Search that this is being done. If you click on the Hamburgerr menu or to Advanced Filters after that in the search box, you’ll see that this is so.
Simple Search in Chrome with hidden sort by Most Liked:

image
Simple Search in Chrome With Sorting Order Revealed by Clicking on Hamburger Menu
image
Advanced Search in Chrome With Sorting Order Revealed in Advanced Filter
image

It seems like you have found a Discourse bug, not an HT bug :slight_smile:
Hopefully they sort it out. Feel free to report it there. Unless you see something in my admin settings that you think is the cause:

image

Edited

@AbramBaileyAuD, I’d rather just advertise the bug to other users and leave it to HT admins to deal with Discourse. Now that I know about how the search works in a wonky way, it explains what I couldn’t understand before about the presentation of hits in a simple search - and I know to see what hidden sort filter for Simple Search is in effect, I need to put at least one search term in the Search box before I go to the hamburger menu or the Advanced Filters to be able to see what sort order is in effect. The dropdown list of previous searches does give a clue if the user used a sort order search term in recent previous searches. Haven’t fully explored all possibilities and permutations yet but I will educate myself as I go along and spare others all my drivel…

You do have “Relevance” as the default search sort order. So maybe in any HT site introduction for new users, you might want to inform at least new users that there is a default sort order and how to change it.

The Microsoft Flight Simulator forum is a Discourse forum and they have a new user training set of web pages that the user must complete before getting an active account. HT might want to consider something like that. It also goes over what sort of forum etiquette is required, how the forum is organized, etc.

Thanks Jim. Appreciate you digging into it, and surfacing for other users. Yes, we could do better on forum onboarding, and it’s something I’ve been trying to find time for, for a long time.

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