Advanced Medical Electronics (AME) proposes the development of a novel portable wireless hearing aid accessory that utilizes head pose and eye tracking of the hearing aid user to steer a microphone array in the direction of interest. A common problem for hearing aid users is the difficulty of participating in conversations in a noisy environment such as at a workplace or restaurant. While hearing aids can improve speech intelligibility in certain types of noise, it is difficult to distinguish between multiple talkers where some might be ?noise? and others are not. Two of the best solutions for improving hearing aid performance in these scenarios include: 1) moving a separate companion microphone closer to the source or 2) aiming a beamforming array microphone, which is more sensitive to sound in a particular direction, towards the desired sound source. While companion microphones have been shown to be effective, they have drawbacks that have limited their use. Companion microphones require an active involvement of the speakers to use microphones. There are many situations where this is impractical or socially awkward. There are also microphone beamforming array solutions on the market, but there are challenges with steering or pointing the array to the source of interest as well as making the array unobtrusive. This Proposal presents an innovative solution for using a beamforming array microphone that solves the issues of being cumbersome and slow to point, especially in a fast moving conversation of many people. The front facing camera (the side with the screen) on a smartphone will be utilized to detect the head pose and eye direction of the hearing aid user's focus of attention. The microphone array, attached to the back of a smartphone, will be electronically steered with signal processing to collect sound from the direction the user is looking. The processed audio will then be transmitted directly to the user's hearing aid via a digital wireless link. The user will simply hold the smartphone in a natural manner for someone using a smartphone and look at the person in a group they want to listen to. In Phase II, AME will build a production prototype system and test it with hearing impaired individuals.
According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), approximately 17% or 36 million American adults report some degree of hearing loss. The NIDCD also estimates that only about 1 out of 5 people who could benefit from wearing a hearing aid actually wear one. One of the most important indicators of satisfaction with hearing aid use is the hearing aids utility in multiple-speaker listening situations. One of the most difficult situations for hearing aids to deal with is use in noisy situations with multiple speakers. This project aims to improve the utility of hearing aids.
