Radio Acoustical Virtual Environment: from Lab to Field – Year 2

In a world that is getting noisier and as more people are at risk of noise-induced hearing loss the NSERC-EERS industrial research chair in in-ear technologies (CRITIAS) and its industrial partner EERS, have joined forces to address the existing issues in hearing protection devices (HPD). Difficulties in communication is the most prevalent reason why HPDs are not worn in noisy environments. The goal of this project is to enhance communication for talkers wearing HPDs in noise. This is done by capturing speech from inside the occluded ear, denoising it and extending its frequency bandwidth. Once enhanced, the speech signal is sent to listeners within a spatial range of a talker. This range is determined by monitoring the vocal effort of the talker and the level of background noise. Such a Radio Acoustical Virtual Environment enhances the quality of communication in noise and encourages the continuous use of HPDs in noise.

Faculty Supervisor:

Jérémie Voix

Student:

Rachel Bouserhal

Partner:

EERS Technologies 4.0 Inc

Discipline:

Engineering - mechanical

Sector:

Information and communications technologies

University:

Program: