A Flexible Device for Listening in Noise

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long term goal of this work is to develop and deploy a flexible, inexpensive, assistive listening device consisting of a patented directional microphone (Excloid) contained in a small medallion-like package that includes the capability of adding wireless accessory modules such as Bluetooth, FM, and infra-red. The device will be addressed to three different groups: (1) The general population, many of whom have difficulty hearing in noisy environments, such as restaurants, (2) Hearing aid users, and (3) Cochlear Implant users. By designing the device to support a wide array of coupling mechanisms, and in particular by targeting the general population, it is expected that the market size for the product will be larger than that of typical assistive listening devices, and the use of more common distribution methods, such as those used by the consumer electronics industry, will significantly reduce the cost to the end user. The Excloid microphone is a unique second order design that uses the body as a phase shifting element. Noise reduction from this technique typically results in better than a 10 dB SNR improvement in real world settings, such as a noisy restaurant. Incorporation of the Bluetooth transceiver will enable a user to communicate via any of the now ubiquitous Bluetooth equipped devices such as computers, mobile telephones, and personal digital assistants (PDA). While the initial product will be designed to specifically support the Bluetooth transceiver, the accessory port will also support legacy wireless receivers such as FM and infra-red, should future work warrant that additional functionality. The work during the Phase I portion of the project will focus specifically on methods for coupling to intended users, evaluating those methods for effectiveness and cosmetic acceptability, and performing a detailed study of the device's performance in a noisy environment. We will use hearing impaired and normally hearing subjects to assess that performance. During the Phase II portion of the project we will build and deploy sufficient numbers of the device to assure our design meets the consumer's needs.