Airplane Assistant System for Hard of Hearing Travelers

The acoustical environment in airplanes is adverse to spoken communication, regardless of one's heaFor hard of hearing people, these listening conditions result in miscommunications, social isolationthreatening circumstances. Commonly used hearing aids aggravate the problem by indiscriminately amplhigh ambient noise along with the desired sound of pilot announcements and flight attendant communicheadsets do not provide a suitable output for most hard of hearing people. Available assistive listelistening systems are not compatible with airplane sound systems. Open captioning on TV monitors whiprerecorded information does not address real time pilot announcements and the one-on-one communicatof hearing travelers interacting with flight attendants and neighboring passengers. Phase I will tesa cost effective and user friendly assistive listening system specifically designed to interface witsystems and featuring infrared receiving capabilities for in-flight interpersonal communications. Oucommercialize a new assistive listening system electronically and mechanically tailored to the airplresearched and evaluated with the participation of hard of hearing people and a commercial airline.