Prerequisite: You have a hörbert model from October 2021 with a rotary knob for switching on/off.
If you still have an hörbert with a toggle switch, you can have it updated by us or upgrade it yourself with our DIY upgrade kit.

Three preparatory steps

1. Activating the microphone function
2. Edit the memory card: Define one or more playlists on which voice recordings are to 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 does not yet have the Butterfly firmware, we recommend updating the firmware. Here you will find the necessary steps for a firmware update and the firmware file to download. Once the Butterfly firmware has been successfully installed on your hörbert, proceed as follows. At the bottom of this FAQ you will also find the steps without Butterfly firmware or Browser Set Mode.

• Start hörbert’s Browser Set Mode

• Switch on hörbert and wait until it plays.
• Inside hörbert, press the small SET button to the right of the hörbert logo on the green circuit board. hörbert emits an ascending signal tone and opens its own WLAN network.
• Go to your Wi-Fi settings on your smartphone, tablet or computer. hörbert appears there as a new Wi-Fi network.

• Connect with hörbert’s WLAN. The password is: hoerbert

• Now start a web browser on your mobile phone, tablet or computer, e.g. google chrome, Safari, Firefox, etc.

• Type in the following address: http://hoerbert.local

• The hörbert browser set mode opens, which looks like the following image in the mobile view. Here you will also find an

  EXPLANATORY VIDEO on the BROWSER SET MODE

• Open the MICROPHONE item in the menu and activate the function there.

• Also set the sensitivity of the built-in microphone there. The higher the value, the more sensitive the voice microphone will react and the better the recording will be audible in the end, even if you are at a slightly 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 file played before the start of recording. Repeat this step for all playlists on which voice recordings are to be saved.

• NOTE: Make sure that there is at least one audio file on each playlist on which recordings are to be made.

• If you have an accessible hörbert with only three large playlist buttons, go to the GENERAL menu item and then to the ‘Advanced settings’. Tick the ‘Show expert menu’ box. You will now find a new sub-item ‘EXPERTS’ in the main menu. Select this. Go to the ‘Recording settings’. Select the desired recording mode here, e.g. start recording by pressing and holding a playlist button.

• Exit Browser Set Mode either by pressing the disconnect button on the end device or by pressing the SET button on the inside of the hörbert again. If you want to set the parrot mode, see the necessary steps for the parrot mode below before exiting the browser set mode.

• Wait until hörbert starts playing again and select one of the playlists that you have previously authorised for voice recordings.

Starting and stopping a recording with hörbert

• To start a recording, proceed as follows:
• On hörbert, press the black and grey buttons at the bottom of the front panel parallel to each other. The red light behind the microphone opening lights up. Recording has started, you can release both buttons. Or, on an hörbert with only three large playlist buttons, press one playlist button longer, depending on the selected recording mode.
• To end and save the recording, press the black button once. On an hörbert with only three playlists, you can stop and save the recording by briefly pressing a playlist button again.

• The recording is played back immediately a few seconds after it is finished.

parrot mode of hörbert

The parrot mode at hörbert is a special function that allows you to record your own voice on all playlists and listen to it immediately afterwards, but hörbert deletes this recording immediately after listening, unless the playlist was previously authorised for voice recording. Just like a parrot that parrots what it hears. This is a fun gimmick for young and old alike and is great fun to play with. This function is also useful in speech therapy and for speech development. Direct repetition trains hearing and self-perception – key elements in speech therapy.

How to activate the parrot mode on hörbert

• You need the Browser Set Mode from hörbert for activation.
• Start the browser set mode as described above

• Go to the GENERAL menu item and then to the ‘Advanced settings’. Tick the ‘Show expert menu’ box. You will now find a new sub-item ‘EXPERT’ in the main menu. Select this. Go to the ‘Recording settings’. Switch on the parrot mode here.

• Exit the browser set mode via the disconnect button or press the SET button inside hörbert to return to hörbert playback mode.

• You can now make voice recordings in all playlists using the built-in microphone. The recordings are only saved if hörbert was playing a playlist in which voice recordings are permitted when the recording was started.

Enable voice recording without the Butterfly firmware

If the Butterfly firmware is not yet running on your hörbert, you can still carry out all the necessary steps without the Browser Set Mode. However, without Butterfly firmware, you will need a computer and the hörbert software to edit the memory card. You can find the latest hörbert software on our website in the ‘Service’ section under ‘Software Downloads’. Download the software and install it on your computer.

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

• 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 a drive in the hörbert software.

• Click on ‘Read card’ and wait until the software has read in all the tracks and now displays the number of audio files on the coloured buttons.

• Now click on the coloured button on the screen that you want to release for voice recordings.

• Select ‘Save voice recordings here’ at the bottom of the content window.

• Close the window by clicking on the green tick in the top right-hand corner.

• In the hörbert software main menu, go to ‘Extras’ and then to ‘Configure set mode’.

• Select ‘Allow’ for Microphone and save the setting.

• Eject the card properly using the green button to the right of the ‘Eject card’ display and wait until the hörbert software says that you can now disconnect the card from the computer.

• Insert the SD card back into hörbert and switch hörbert on.
• Start a recording by pressing the black and grey buttons at the same time until the red light at the front of the microphone opening lights up. You can then release the buttons.
• To end the recording, press the black button again.