Enhancing Communication in Noisy Environments
Abstract
Military personnel when deployed in environments characterized by high-level noise require personal hearing protection devices that may limit their auditory detection, sound localization and verbal communication capabilities. This limitation may have an impact on the successful outcome of the mission, as well as personal safety. Because of the noise and also the high incidence of hearing loss, members have to shout to be heard, and there is a high probability that commands, whether delivered face-to-face or by radio, will be misunderstood. Current hearing protection and listening devices are often incompatible with other gear and may reduce situational awareness. In consequence, personnel often dispense with hearing protection to improve operational effectiveness, resulting in hearing damage. A research study is underway that explores an alternative approach that includes the use of existing in-ear communications systems which incorporate active noise reduction combined with additional signal processing algorithms. The goal of the system is to suppress background noise while enhancing speech in order to improve face-to-face communication in noisy environments, with an expectation that such a system would permit hearing protection to be worn more consistently. The proposed system makes use of audio signals collected by an array of microphones mounted on a helmet. Integration of the system into a helmet is intended to improve compatibility with regular gear, while use of an array of microphones permits sound localization, and even steering of acoustic listening beams in specific directions, while suppressing the interference from the surrounding high-level ambient noise. We review currently available hearing protection technologies, assess their strengths and weaknesses, and motivate the need for speech enhancement technologies. We then describe the prototype system which is currently under development.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2009
- Accession Number
- ADA567868
Entities
People
- Craig Burrell
- Sharon Abel
Organizations
- Defence Research and Development Canada