Encouraging accessible conversations using sound scene monitoring and IoT-based nudging

听力损失的影响可能是毁灭性的，对个人和他们的家人和朋友都是如此。助听器可以将安静的声音放大到可以听到的程度，这对看电视和在安静的地方进行一对一的交谈很有效。然而，许多日常环境天生就是嘈杂的。助听器技术日新月异，但还不足以解决“噪音中的语音”问题。在咖啡馆或餐馆里艰难地跟上一群人的谈话是令人沮丧的，并导致一种社会排斥感。这往往会导致个人完全退出社交场合，导致孤立、孤独，甚至加速痴呆症的发生。该项目旨在开发技术辅助策略，帮助听力障碍者充分参与集体对话。听力障碍受多种因素的影响，包括房间的声学效果、噪声源的位置、对话参与者的空间配置以及他们的群体动态。这项计划将制作简单易用的工具，让任何人都可以选择一个好的场地，坐在最好的座位上，并为小组提供实时协助，帮助他们以听障人士可以接触到的方式交谈。该计划将利用机器学习的最新进展和现成的物联网设备来理解声音场景。通过用户参与和快速设计迭代，它将开发适当的“推动”干预措施，巧妙地引导对话参与者采取更具包容性的行为。

The impact of hearing loss can be devastating, both for the individual and their family and friends. Hearing aids can help by amplifying quiet sounds enough to be heard, which works well for watching TV and having a one-to-one conversation in a quiet place. However, many everyday environments are inherently noisy. Hearing aid technology is advancing all the time, but it is not yet sufficient to solve the "speech-in-noise" problem. Struggling to follow a group conversation in a café or restaurant is frustrating and leads to a sense of social exclusion. This can often result in an individual opting out of social situations altogether, causing isolation, loneliness and even accelerating the onset of dementia.The project aims to develop technology-assisted strategies which will help hearing impaired people to fully participate in group conversations. The difficulty of hearing well in a listening situation is affected by several factors, including the acoustics of the room, the locations of noise sources, the spatial configuration of the conversation participants and their group dynamics. The project will create easy-to-use tools which enable anyone to choose a good venue, sit in the best seat and provide real-time assistance to the group to help them talk in a manner which is accessible to the hearing-impaired person.The project will exploit recent advances in machine learning and readily-available Internet-of-Things devices to understand sound scenes. Through user engagement and rapid design iterations it will develop appropriate "nudge" interventions which subtly guide the conversation participants to adopt more inclusive behaviour.