Highly Miniaturized Ultrasound Devices for Enhancing Human-Machine Interfacing of Hearing Aids****

今天的绝大多数数字设备都是使用按钮和/或拨盘的组合来控制的，这需要与用户进行直接的物理接触。最近在“虚拟”按钮控制技术方面的研究展示了它们在便携式设备方面的突出潜力，如遥控设备、智能手机和平板电脑。例如，目前由耳机上的几个小按钮控制的先进助听器，可以受益于“虚拟”控制界面。助听器公司一直面临着在其设备中加入新功能的压力，这使得它们变得更加复杂和难以操作：用户必须在大量选项中快速导航，选择并激活所需功能-所有这些都是为了及时响应自己不断变化的个人需求，同时也是为了响应快速和动态变化的声学环境。因此，基于按钮的界面，无论是物理的还是虚拟的，对于不能有效地利用他们的助听器的功能的用户来说是严重的限制，这经常导致挫折感和低用户依从性。类似的限制也存在于许多其他应用领域。一个几乎无处不在的例子是汽车中的语音命令系统，用户必须发出多个语音命令，在几层虚拟菜单中导航，然后才能选择所需的命令，到那时，合适的时机可能已经过去。

The vast majority of today's digital devices are controlled using a combination of buttons and/or dials, requiring direct, physical contact with the user. Recent research in 'virtual' button control technologies demonstrated their outstanding potential for portable devices, such as remote control devices, smart phones and tablets. For example, advanced hearing aids which are currently controlled by a few tiny buttons on the ear units, can be benefited from 'virtual' control interfaces. Hearing aid companies are under constant pressure to build new functionalities into their devices, making them more complex and difficult to operate: users must quickly navigate through a vast number of options, select and activate the desired functions - all in time to respond to their own ever-changing personal needs, but also in response to rapidly and dynamically changing acoustic environments. Thus, button-based interfaces, physical or virtual, are severely limiting for users who cannot fully utilize the functionalities of their hearing aids effectively, which frequently leads to frustration and low user compliance. Similar limitations exist in many other application areas as well. One almost ubiquitous example is the voice command system in automobiles, where users must issue a number of voice commands, navigating through several layers of virtual menus before the desired command can be chosen, by which time the right moment might already have passed.