Sensing and Processing for Directional Hearing Aids

描述(申请人提供)：计划的目的是开发革命性的助听器技术，使听力受损的人在嘈杂的环境中理解语言的能力得到显著提高。我们的重点是改进信号的声学传感和处理技术，以最大限度地减少有害声音的影响。我们将通过高度协调的团队努力实现这一点，以确保系统每个功能的设计参数相互优化和兼容。这项工作可以被视为有三个密切相关的技术开发领域：新型定向麦克风、新型光学电子读出和新型信号处理。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The aim of the proposed effort is to develop revolutionary technology for hearing aids that will lead to a marked improvement in the ability of the hearing impaired to understand speech in noisy environments. Our focus is on improving the technology of acoustic sensing and processing of signals so as to minimize the influence of unwanted sounds. We will accomplish this by a highly coordinated team effort to ensure that the design parameters of each feature of the system are mutually optimized and are compatible. This effort may be viewed as having three closely interrelated areas of technology development: novel directional microphones, novel optical electronic readout, and novel signal processing.