Requirement: You have a hörbert model from October 2021 onwards with a rotary knob for switching on/off.
If you still have a hörbert with a toggle switch, you can have it updated through us or upgrade it yourself with our DIY Upgrade Kit.

Three Preparation Steps

1. Activation of the microphone function
2. Editing the memory card: Define one or more playlists on which voice recordings should be saved.
3. Switch on hörbert, start recording and save.

Activating the Microphone and Editing the Memory Card in Browser Set Mode

If your hörbert doesn’t have the Butterfly firmware yet, we recommend updating the firmware. Here you’ll find the necessary steps for a firmware update and the firmware file to download. If the Butterfly firmware is successfully installed on your hörbert, proceed as follows. At the bottom of this FAQ you’ll also find the steps without Butterfly firmware or Browser Set Mode.

• Start the Browser Set Mode of hörbert.
• To do this, switch on hörbert and wait until it plays.
• Press the small SET button inside hörbert to the right of the hörbert logo on the green circuit board. hörbert makes an ascending signal tone and opens its own WiFi network.
• Go to your WiFi settings on your smartphone, tablet or computer. hörbert appears there as a new WiFi network.
• Connect to hörbert’s WiFi. The password is: hoerbert
• Now start a web browser on your phone, tablet or computer, e.g. Google Chrome, Safari, Firefox, etc.
• Enter the following address in the address bar: http://hoerbert.local
• hörbert’s Browser Set Mode opens, which looks like the following image in mobile view. Here you’ll also find an EXPLANATORY VIDEO about BROWSER SET MODE

• Open the MICROPHONE section in the menu and activate the function there.
  
• Also set the sensitivity of the built-in microphone there. The higher the value, the more sensitively the voice microphone reacts and the better the recording will be audible in the end, even if you are at a somewhat greater distance from hörbert.
  
• Open the PLAYLISTS menu item and select one of the coloured playlist buttons on which hörbert should save voice recordings. The recordings are always saved directly after the last played file before recording starts. Repeat this step for all playlists on which voice recordings should be saved.
  
• NOTE: Make sure that at least one audio file is present on each playlist where recordings are to be made.
  
• If you have a barrier-free hörbert with only three large playlist buttons, now go to the GENERAL menu item and there to the « Advanced Settings« . Tick the box for « Show Expert Menu« . You’ll now find a new sub-item « EXPERT » in the main menu. Select this. Go to the « Recording Settings » there. Select the desired recording mode here, e.g. recording starts by pressing a playlist button for longer.
  
• End the Browser Set Mode either on the device via the disconnect button or press the SET button inside hörbert again. If you want to set the Parrot mode, see the necessary steps for Parrot mode below before leaving the Browser Set Mode.
  
• Wait until hörbert plays again and select one of the playlists that you previously enabled for voice recordings.

Starting and Stopping a Recording with hörbert

• To start a recording, proceed as follows:
• Press the black and grey buttons at the bottom of hörbert’s front side parallel to each other. The red light behind the microphone opening lights up. The recording has started, you can release both buttons. Or press a playlist button longer on a hörbert with only three large playlist buttons, depending on the selected recording mode.
• To end and save the recording, you must press the black button once. On a hörbert with only three playlists, you can end and save the recording by briefly pressing a playlist button again.
• The recording will be played back directly a few seconds after ending.
  

Parrot Mode of hörbert

The Parrot mode on hörbert is a special function with which you can record your own voice on all playlists, listen to it directly afterwards, but hörbert deletes this recording immediately after listening, provided the playlist was not previously specially allowed for voice recording. Just like a parrot that repeats what it hears. This is a nice gimmick and fun voice activity for young and old. This function is also useful in speech therapy and for language development. Direct listening back trains hearing and self-perception – central elements in speech therapy.

How to activate Parrot mode on hörbert

• You need hörbert’s Browser Set Mode for activation.
• Start the Browser Set Mode as described above
• Go to the GENERAL menu item and there to the « Advanced Settings« . Tick the box for « Show Expert Menu« . You’ll now find a new sub-item « EXPERT » in the main menu. Select this. Go to the « Recording Settings » there. Switch on Parrot mode here.
• Leave the Browser Set Mode via the disconnect button or press the SET button inside hörbert to return to hörbert’s playback mode.
• Now you can make voice recordings via the built-in microphone in all playlists. The recordings are only saved if hörbert was playing a playlist where voice recordings are allowed when the recording started.

Activating Voice Recordings Without Butterfly Firmware

If the Butterfly firmware isn’t running on your hörbert yet, you can still perform all the necessary steps without the Browser Set Mode. However, you need without Butterfly firmware a computer and the hörbert software to edit the memory card. You can find the current hörbert software on our website in the « Service » section under « Software Downloads« . Download the software and install it on your computer.

By the way: On all hörberts and also on all barrier-free hörberts with only three large buttons that we’ve been delivering since mid-November 2024, the Butterfly firmware is already installed.

• Start the hörbert software. Select the correct hörbert model without toggle switch.
• Connect the hörbert memory card to your computer via an SD card slot or via an external SD card reader.
• The hörbert software recognises the card and displays it as a drive. Select the SD card as the drive in the hörbert software.
• Click on « Read card » and wait until the software has read in all tracks and now shows the number of audio files located there on the coloured buttons.
• Now click on the coloured button on the screen that you want to enable for voice recordings.
• Select « Save voice recordings here » at the bottom of the content window.
• Close the window via the green tick at the top right.
• Go to « Extras » in the hörbert software main menu and then to « Configure Set Mode« .
• Select « Allow » for Microphone and save the setting.
• Eject the card properly via the green button next to the « Eject card » display and wait until the hörbert software says you can now disconnect the card from the computer.
• Put the SD card back into hörbert and switch hörbert on.
• Start a recording by pressing the black and grey buttons simultaneously until the red lamp at the microphone opening at the front lights up. You can then release the buttons.
• To end the recording, press the black button again.