SBIR Phase II: Active Noise Reduction System With Voice Pass-Through

该项目的广泛影响/商业潜力符合医学向预防范式发展的趋势，其前提是预防问题通常比治疗问题或管理未来的赤字成本低。新生儿重症监护病房（NICUs）的过度噪音与这些护理区域患者的认知缺陷明显相关。然而，将婴儿与任何声音接触隔离也不利于语言技能的发展。该项目将研究和开发一种系统，该系统将提供更稳定的新生儿重症监护病房，减轻导致发育迟缓的神经系统并发症，并减少听力损失的发生。美国儿科学会？指导方针指出，新生儿不应暴露在超过45dBA的噪音中，但医院仍在努力实现这一目标。部署这种具有语音传输功能的噪声衰减系统将有助于医院为新生儿提供适当的环境。医院管理人员和临床主任对这一解决方案表示了热情。这项小企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目旨在开发一种用于新生儿重症监护病房培养箱的主动降噪系统，同时允许父母的声音基本上不衰减地通过。为了实现噪声衰减，在培养箱内外监测不需要的噪声，并使用与检测到的噪声完全同相的相应信号来很大程度上消除不需要的噪声。该系统将采用多通道混合系统，同时采用反馈和前馈元件。虽然这是一种更复杂的方法，但已被证明比更简单的解决方案具有性能优势。在这个阶段，衰减区的大小将被扩大，算法将适应多个不同形状的孵化器，并将实施一套故障安全规定。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is in line with the trend in medicine towards a prevention paradigm, following the premise that preventing problems is generally less costly than treating the problem or managing a future deficit. Excessive noise in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) has been clearly linked to cognitive deficits among the patients of these care areas. However, isolating the infants from any voice contact is also detrimental to language skill development. This project will investigate and develop a system that will provide for a more stable stay in the NICU, mitigate neurologic complications leading to developmental delays, and lessen the occurrence of hearing loss. The American Academy of Pediatrics? guidelines state that neonatal patients should not be exposed to noises greater than 45dBA yet hospitals struggle to achieve this. Deploying such a noise attenuation system with voice pass through capabilities will help hospitals provide the proper environment for their neonatal populations. Hospital administrators and clinical directors have expressed enthusiasm for this solution.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 2 project seeks to develop an active noise reduction system for use in an NICU incubator, while allowing a parent's voice to pass through essentially unattenuated. To achieve the noise attenuation, the unwanted noise is monitored outside and inside the incubator and a corresponding signal exactly out of phase with the detected noise is used to largely cancel the unwanted noise. The system will employ a multi-channel hybrid system employing both feedback and feedforward elements. While a more complex approach, this has been shown to have performance advantages over simpler solutions. In this phase, the size of the zone of attenuation will be expanded, the algorithm will be adapted to multiple incubators having differing shapes, and a set of fail-safe provisions will be implemented.