BIOMIMETIC DIRECTIONAL MICROPHONE FOR HEARING AIDS

项目描述（根据申请人摘要）：所提出的努力将导致新颖的原型设备，这将极大地改善那些听障人士的生活。助听器佩戴者的主要抱怨之一是，他们在嘈杂的环境中辨认语音有很大的困难。为了解决这个问题，助听器研究界研究了定向阵列技术，这种技术往往会减弱从助听器使用者背后传来的声音。虽然这些设备可以显著提高语音清晰度，但它们通常要求用户佩戴许多通过电线连接的麦克风，这在外观上是不可接受的，或者麦克风必须集成到眼镜框架中。一种更理想和实用的方法是在现有的耳内或耳内助听器的结构中加入一个阵列（可能仅由两个麦克风组成）。这样的装置可以提供一个增强的排斥声音从后面超越由耳廓提供。本研究采用了一种新颖的、高度创新的方法来开发一种定向助听器麦克风，它完全依赖于一种独特的、被动的机械结构来实现其方向性。该方法比以前解决该问题的尝试提供了显著的优势：1)减少对电子信号处理的依赖，因此，有可能通过降低功耗显着增加电池寿命；2)利用硅微加工技术，该技术有助于将机械传感和处理设备以及电子电路集成在非常小的封装中。研制小型定向接收机的问题在自然界中已经得到了广泛的研究。通过应用自然、生物系统中使用的原理，将有可能开发出实用的定向助听器。在本研究中，将利用最近发现的昆虫用于声源定位的机制来开发适用于助听器的定向麦克风原型。工业合作将提供技术援助，并将确保最终的设备满足可制造性和包装限制。为了促进生产就绪设备的开发，将在桑迪亚国家实验室开发原型制造运行，然后将其传递给工业合作者。

Description of Project (as per applicant abstract): The proposed effort will lead to novel prototype devices which will greatly improve the lives of those who are hearing impaired. One of the primary complaints of hearing aid wearers is that they have significant difficulty sorting out speech in noisy environments. In an attempt to address this, the hearing aid research community has examined directional array technology which would tend to attenuate the sounds arriving from behind the hearing aid users. While these devices can provide a significant improvement in speech intelligibility, they often require the user to wear a number of microphones connected through wires, which is cosmetically unacceptable or the microphones must be incorporated into the frames of eyeglasses. A much more desirable and practical approach is to incorporate an array (possibly composed of only two microphones) within the structure of an existing in-the-ear or in- the-canal hearing aid. Such a device could provide an enhanced rejection of sounds from the rear beyond that provided by the pinna. The present study uses a novel, highly innovative approach to develop a directional hearing aid microphone which relies entirely on a unique, passive mechanical structure to achieve its directionality. The approach provides significant advantages over previous attempts to solve this problem by 1) reducing the reliance on electronic signal processing and, as a result, has the potential of significantly increasing battery life by reducing power consumption and 2) utilizing the technology of silicon micromachining which facilitates the integration of mechanical sensing and processing devices along with electronic circuits in a very small package. The problem of developing small directional receivers has been addressed extensively in nature. By applying the principles used in natural, biological systems, it will be possible to develop practical directional hearing aids. In the proposed study, recently discovered mechanisms that are used by insects for sound source localization will be utilized in order to develop prototype directional microphones suitable for use in hearing aids. Industrial collaboration will provide technical assistance and will ensure that the resulting device satisfies manufacturability and packaging constraints. In order to facilitate the development of a production-ready device, a prototype fabrication run will be developed at Sandia National Laboratories which will then be passed on to the industrial collaborators.