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，无论是对个人还是他们的家人和朋友。助听器可以通过放大足够的安静声音来提供帮助，这对于在安静的地方看电视和进行一对一的谈话非常有效。然而，许多日常环境本质上是嘈杂的。助听器技术一直在进步，但还不足以解决“噪声中的语音”问题。在咖啡馆或餐馆里努力跟上一群人的谈话是令人沮丧的，并会导致社会排斥感。这通常会导致一个人选择完全退出社交场合，造成孤立，孤独，甚至加速痴呆症的发作。该项目旨在开发技术辅助策略，帮助听障人士充分参与小组对话。在听的情况下，听力的困难受到几个因素的影响，包括房间的声学，噪声源的位置，对话参与者的空间配置和他们的群体动态。该项目将创建易于使用的工具，使任何人都能选择一个好的场地，坐在最好的座位上，并为小组提供实时帮助，帮助他们以听障人士可以接受的方式说话。该项目将利用机器学习和现成的物联网设备的最新进展来理解声音场景。通过用户参与和快速的设计迭代，它将开发适当的"轻推"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.