Periwinkle Team 2023
A More Accessible Ear Training Device
Humans have the ability to detect the locations of sounds within a room based on the magnitude and time of arrival difference between ears. People in hard of hearing communities struggle with this task as the use of hearing aids and cochlear implants can lead to an imbalance between sides of the brain. Our project team is designing a device that can sense the direction of different audio cues, making it easier for the user to identify where sounds are coming from. The device consists of multiple microphones recording sounds from a room, and by calculating the time delay between microphones, we can emulate the human ability to detect sound direction. The device will report the angle of arrival data to a terminal as well as light up LEDs around the device to indicate to the user the direction sounds are coming from. Planned additions include a more robust sound directionality algorithm to distinguish between multiple sources, as well as speech preprocessing or noise canceling technology to isolate voices from other audio sources.
Related Tech Notes
- Where is the Sound? by Christina Liu
- Where is the Sound? by Callaghan Berry
- Physical Optimization of 2D Microphone Arrays by Caitlin Goldberg
- Impact of Room Architecture on Sound Localization by Matthew Zager
Project Poster
