"Current hearing aids are good at amplifying sounds and voices, but they struggle with the classic 'cocktail party problem' deciding which voice matters to the listener. It can take a lot of effort to focus your attention on one voice in a crowded room. Hearing is not only about whether words are understood correctly. Two people may both understand [what they're saying], but one person may need far more mental effort to follow the conversation. That can become exhausting over time."
"As a result, many people stop using hearing aids just when they need them most in restaurants, cafeterias, parties, or busy social spaces. So, Choudhari and his colleagues are trying to develop a smart technology that knows what a hearing aid user is listening to. They want to enhance that one sound or voice, while at the same time reducing the volume of any other sounds, voice or background noise."
"To do that, they designed a system that reads brain waves and, using artifical intelligence, interprets what a listener is listening to. Many hearing aids use beamforming, which enhances sounds coming from a certain direction, usually in front of the listener. But real conversations are dynamic. People turn their heads, switch attention, or even listen to someone without directly looking at them."
Current hearing aids amplify sounds and voices but do not reliably solve the cocktail party problem of selecting the most relevant speaker in crowded environments. Following conversations can require substantial mental effort even when words are understood, leading some people to stop using hearing aids in busy social settings. A smart system is being developed to identify what a listener is attending to by reading brain waves and applying artificial intelligence to interpret attention. The approach targets enhancement of the selected voice while reducing other voices and background noise. It also addresses limitations of beamforming, since real conversations involve head turns and shifting attention rather than a fixed sound direction.
#hearing-aids #brain-computer-interfaces #speech-enhancement #machine-learning #cocktail-party-problem
Read at www.dw.com
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