Speech Enhancer for Group Conversation in Noise

Project Summary Abstract Background noise is an impediment to conversation for everyonebut for those with hearing lossnoise can be a terrible source of confusionfrustrationand social isolationThe problems of conversing in noise are all too familiar not only for people who have hearing aids or cochlear implantsbut also for the millions of people with moderate hearing lossesmany of them older thanyearsThis is especially troubling in restaurants or a retirement homeandapos s dining hallwhich provide pivotal occasions for social interactionThe goal of this project is to develop a low cost assistive listening device that will make it easy to participate in conversations in noisy environmentsThe focus is on a device that does its designated task well rather than a system overloaded with extraneous features that detract from its primary purposeCurrent wireless assistive listening devices for such situations allow one person to receive enhanced speech signals from multiple talkersand so do not provide assistance to more than one person in a groupMulti way communication systems that allow communication among all participants cost more than $making them too expensive for common useIn the proposed systemeach person in a group wears a wireless earset with a boom microphone and earphonesimilar in form to Bluetooth devices worn on one earSpeech signals picked up by each microphone are transmitted by radio and processed in such a way that all persons in the group can hear each other as in a conference callIf two or more people speak at the same timelisteners in the group hear the voices overlap naturallyThe benefit for speech reception arises from the proximity of the microphone to the talkerandapos s mouthwhich increases the signal to ambient noise ratio by up todB over that received acoustically at a listenerandapos s earThis figuratively corresponds to speaking directly into every group memberandapos s ear at a distance of a few centimetersThe expected ease of operation and low cost of these devices makes them ideal for general use at family gatherings and mealsretirement homesand restaurantsnot only for people with hearing loss but anyone wishing to more easily participate in conversationsWork in Phase I will focus on circuit design to maximize audio performance with minimal sizecostand power drainas well as ergonomic design for ease of useTests of speech intelligibility in noise will be performed to quantify the benefit to the userThe operational simplicity of this approach will lead to a low cost and easy to use assistive listening product to improve the quality of life of millions of peopleespecially those with impaired hearing Project NarrativePublic Relevance This project is aimed at developing assistive listening devices for people with hearing loss to facilitate face to face conversationparticularly in noisy surroundings where hearing aids are of limited useThis will be the first product at a price affordable for the general public that will enable enhanced communication among all members of a group engaged in conversationThis low cost and easy to use assistive listening product can improve the quality of life of the estimatedmillion people in the US with impaired hearingand for all people who need to communicate in noisy places