Adding shop symbol: hearing_aids

[sommerbe]

Icon source: own work. Rasterisation: tested with density=96,150,300,600 using ImageMagick convert

Changes proposed in this pull request:

• shops of type "hearing_aids" are rendered with a unique icon, similar to optician.

[imagico]

Thanks for the pull request.

This needs a sample rendering for evaluation of the symbol's suitability.

Tag in question is shop=hearing_aids:

https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag%3Ashop%3Dhearing_aids

Has 8.7k uses, not that much considering how widespread these are in countries with aging populations like in Europe and East Asia. But the tag describes a well delineated type of shop and it is consistently used in that meaning (despite the wiki doing an extremely poor job at a culture independent definition through copy&paste from English Wikipedia).

So in principle i am in support for adding this - subject to evaluation of the symbol.

[pnorman]

SVG looks technically okay, but we need a test rendering to evaluate how the symbol works. I support this in principle.

[sommerbe]

Please find attached two renderings using kosmtik of the symbol in question, commit 298e9510d99a92d17836491647e9144130a3f848, of two different maps, before and after this suggested change, respectively.

Map 0: after (above), before (below). See OSM.

Map 1: after (above), before (below). See OSM.

[imagico]

Thanks for the sample renderings.

I think there is some room for improvement in recognizability here. The 14x14 pixel space provides quite a bit more room for a more explicit depiction than just a abstract shape vaguely resembling an ear.

A simple image search could provide some inspiration:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=hearing+aid+symbol&t=h_&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images

I in particular think that a sound wave visualization (you could take that from our communication tower symbols) would be helpful.

[sommerbe]

Thank you for your feedback. Thinking about it, I agree with a) "a more explicit depiction", b) using the entire icon space and c) a wave visualization (for which I indeed used your communication tower symbol) which I think fits nicely given the development of in-the-ear hearing aids featuring bluetooth etc.

For this new icon, I wanted to resemble the principal shape/curves of the human ear while being a bit more organic/explicit than I found with many such symbols on the web. To be honest, I think depicting human shapes isn't that easy given that humans are particular critical towards recognizing humans, as far as I know.

Below is the rendering of this new icon (no 20). Scale x1 (above), Scale x2 (below).

What do you think? In case we all agree, then I push this change.

[imagico]

I like that you are trying a new take on the subject with a more organic and less abstract shape. But i am not sure if this is substantially better recognizable. Part is that the waves are going in the wrong direction (a hearing aid would be receiving sound waves on the outside, not sending them).

For comparison here a sketch combining some design ideas that can be found in the image search linked to above. This depicts a traditional above-the-ear hearing aid. I am not sure this is necessarily better recognizable as an ear, but it attempts to illustrate the actual hearing aid and this way aims to avoid the generic something with ears association.

I would encourage you to try tuning your design - maybe see how it looks like with the wave pattern flipped.

[sommerbe]

Here are two sketches with above-the-ear hearing aid, in following your suggestion related to the wave propagation direction, from front (above, no 25), from back (below, no 28).

I am under the impression that the latter sketch depicting the radio waves coming from behind fits better since these are closer to the receiver. With the receiver being more spatially apart from the human ear, compared to your suggested sketches, I find it easier to recognize the receiver.

But one may argue as to whether the human ear is better recognizable.

[HolgerJeromin]

Interesting you argue with radio waves. For me they are sound waves. :-)

Something with sound and the ear. Fits too IMO.

[sommerbe]

Of course they are sound waves. Just a typo. Thank you anyway for pointing it out.

[imagico]

I think this is going in the right direction. No strong preference w.r.t. the direction of waves from me. If you choose the version from the left it might make sense to move them down a bit.

Regarding the gap between receiver and ear - yes, the hearing aid as a distinct thing is more clearly identifiable with it. But it might be less clearly readable as a hearing aid since practically such devices will always sit directly on the ear without a gap.

[dch0ph]

Agree with with @sommerbe that waves coming from behind is more recognisable. Big improvement on first design!

[sommerbe]

Thank you.

Here are a few more drafts:

1. no gap between receiver and ear, while sound waves are coming from behind (no 30),

2. sound waves coming from the front are centered, with a gap between receiver and ear (no 31),

3. sound waves coming from the front are centered, without a gap between receiver and ear (no 32),

4. instead of depicting a hearing aid, a strike through line crosses the ear, with sound waves coming from the front (no 35),

5. a strike through line without sound waves (no 38).

The more abstract symbols having a strike through line (no 35, 38) might however be ambiguous. They could resemble one of: hearing aid shop, otologist. And maybe other professionals. But I wanted to try these out, just as an experiment.

[imagico]

I don't think the line through ear is likely going to work.

Apart from that i think there are a lot of good options presented, i would like to see some input from others on the design and the intuitive readability.

[dch0ph]

I don't think line through ear works. 28 followed by 30 for me.

[imagico]

Since there are no further comments i would suggest you, @sommerbe, to pick which of the last shown variants with a hearing aid depicted (with or without gap, waves from front or back) you would like to suggest and update the PR for a full review.

[sommerbe]

The symbol in question has been pushed for full review, using https://github.com/gravitystorm/openstreetmap-carto/pull/4909/commits/db87c75a3faafb561da719f3f5750ec4f72fcab1

The rendering using kosmtik is as follows.

Scale 1x:

Scale 2x:

Thank you for considering this suggestion for full review.