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small things easily vanish
Jul. 29th, 2020 01:07 pmWhen first I got my new hearing aids and the Oticon bluetooth streamer to pipe sounds from my phone directly into my hearing aids I saw that it was also possible to introduce a computer to them, but they strongly recommended buying a bluetooth USB dongle to make that possible. I looked at it, looked at the price, and said "no thanks!" I am not in the habit of listening to music whilst I work, so why would I want it? Then the pandemic started, and much of my social interaction switched to Zoom and Skype. And I started using my phone for those calls, as the sound quality via bluetooth to the hearing aids was so much better than the crap built-in speakers on the computer.
Then I realised that I would really rather do those calls via the computer, for a variety of reasons. The phone's internet connection via wireless wasn't very stable, meaning that the connection would drop mid call at random intervals. Whilst I could (and did) switch over to data instead, that comes with another downside as the data hours piled up. The computer, on the other hand, was connected to the house internet via a wire, which, while it can also have issues, it is more reliable than our wifi. Plus there is the whole big-screen thing, which matters for one-on-one calls in that one can beter see the person with whom one is speaking, and matters for group calls, as one can see more of the participants at one time.
So I braced myself for an unwelcome expense, and ordered the dongle. And it was good. Sound quality from the computer every bit as good as I get from the phone-bluetooth-hearing aids connection. There was the minor problem that when the call on the computer ended I needed to remember to switch the oticon streamer back to paying attention to the phone instead of the computer, lest I miss an actual phone call, but that was minor.
At that point I was still going to work regularly, so I introduced the new USB dongle to a USB port on the computer itself, as I was taking it to and from the office. Not wanting to be without it, I sewed a tiny pocket, closable with velcro, to my phone baldric, and left the dongle there when not in use, and all was good.
Until Saturday, when I went to get ready to attend the Bardic Madness SCA on line event, and my USB dongle wasn't in the pocket where it belongs, nor in the computer. Nor on the desk, nor on the floor under the desk, nor on the floor in the living room, where I had had the computer on Wednesday to participate in the Red House Bardic Circle in the West, nor in nor under the recliner, nor in the bed, nor even in the pile of dust that had been vacuumed up the day before (yay for bag-less vacuum cleaners, so that one can easily check that location).
My best guess is that the tiny pocket veclro must have been bumped/pried open at some point, likely during a time when I had taken the baldric off and set it aside, during which time the dongle must have fallen out, unnoticed by me, and sometime later the velcro closed itself.
After stressing about it for a bit I then sat down and ordered a new one, which I found in the mailbox today (it could have arrived yesterday--I didn't check the box yesterday.
This time, since I am mostly working from home, and have long since brought home the docking station, I introduced the USB dongle to one of the USB ports there, where it can just stay all the time, without worries that it might fall out when I transport the computer. If do decide to take the computer somewhere I can still use that tiny pocket to transport the dongle, but then I will take care to put it right back into the computer as soon as possible thereafter, for fear of loosing it again. I didn't want to pay that fee once, let alone twice! Three times just sounds like a bad idea, better avoided if possible.
Who am I trying to kid? Now that I see the difference in sound quality between the computer speakers and the bluetooth connection direct to the hearing aids, I would pay that fee as many times as I need to in order to keep the sound quality (which is about 50x better, both in terms of being easier to understand speech, and in terms of comfort). I just hope that I don't need to again, I prefer the sound without additional expense.
Then I realised that I would really rather do those calls via the computer, for a variety of reasons. The phone's internet connection via wireless wasn't very stable, meaning that the connection would drop mid call at random intervals. Whilst I could (and did) switch over to data instead, that comes with another downside as the data hours piled up. The computer, on the other hand, was connected to the house internet via a wire, which, while it can also have issues, it is more reliable than our wifi. Plus there is the whole big-screen thing, which matters for one-on-one calls in that one can beter see the person with whom one is speaking, and matters for group calls, as one can see more of the participants at one time.
So I braced myself for an unwelcome expense, and ordered the dongle. And it was good. Sound quality from the computer every bit as good as I get from the phone-bluetooth-hearing aids connection. There was the minor problem that when the call on the computer ended I needed to remember to switch the oticon streamer back to paying attention to the phone instead of the computer, lest I miss an actual phone call, but that was minor.
At that point I was still going to work regularly, so I introduced the new USB dongle to a USB port on the computer itself, as I was taking it to and from the office. Not wanting to be without it, I sewed a tiny pocket, closable with velcro, to my phone baldric, and left the dongle there when not in use, and all was good.
Until Saturday, when I went to get ready to attend the Bardic Madness SCA on line event, and my USB dongle wasn't in the pocket where it belongs, nor in the computer. Nor on the desk, nor on the floor under the desk, nor on the floor in the living room, where I had had the computer on Wednesday to participate in the Red House Bardic Circle in the West, nor in nor under the recliner, nor in the bed, nor even in the pile of dust that had been vacuumed up the day before (yay for bag-less vacuum cleaners, so that one can easily check that location).
My best guess is that the tiny pocket veclro must have been bumped/pried open at some point, likely during a time when I had taken the baldric off and set it aside, during which time the dongle must have fallen out, unnoticed by me, and sometime later the velcro closed itself.
After stressing about it for a bit I then sat down and ordered a new one, which I found in the mailbox today (it could have arrived yesterday--I didn't check the box yesterday.
This time, since I am mostly working from home, and have long since brought home the docking station, I introduced the USB dongle to one of the USB ports there, where it can just stay all the time, without worries that it might fall out when I transport the computer. If do decide to take the computer somewhere I can still use that tiny pocket to transport the dongle, but then I will take care to put it right back into the computer as soon as possible thereafter, for fear of loosing it again. I didn't want to pay that fee once, let alone twice! Three times just sounds like a bad idea, better avoided if possible.
Who am I trying to kid? Now that I see the difference in sound quality between the computer speakers and the bluetooth connection direct to the hearing aids, I would pay that fee as many times as I need to in order to keep the sound quality (which is about 50x better, both in terms of being easier to understand speech, and in terms of comfort). I just hope that I don't need to again, I prefer the sound without additional expense.