Advanced Audio Technologies for Extreme Hearing Protection

High noise environments increase the difficulty of face-to-face communication, with or without the use of hearing protection. Further, understanding the sound signals that are available in the environment for maintaining situational awareness becomes more difficult as background noise level increases. It is imperative to provide high-performing hearing protection devices for use in these high levels of noise. Therefore, methods are needed such that face-to-face communications and situational awareness can be restored to the user without causing further increases in the sound power reaching the outer ear. The proposed Phase I program relies on certain features of newly designed hearing protection devices that are reaching final stages of development. Transducers that are capable of offering high speech-to-noise ratios will be used to develop effective means for face-to-face communication between HPD users who are not equipped with radio communications. Specific hardware and algorithm approaches will be selected such that it is possible to monitor safe levels of voice communications and sound source localization delivered inside the HPD. The Phase I program will leverage existing ATI products that already incorporate means for logic decisions and advanced signal processing algorithms.