Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) is the most widespread sensory impairment among adults. ARHL impairs the ability to communicate and thus, people who suffer from hearing loss also experience a significant reduction in quality of life (QoL); including, social isolation. Despite the prevalence of this problem, there is no cure for ARHL. Therefore, it is crucial to develop novel approaches to overcoming the barriers of ARHL and improve the lives of those who live with it. Remarkable research is being conducted in the form of wearable technology (e.g., traditional hearing aids, over- the-counter amplifiers, and personal amplifier systems); however, wearable technology does not restore age- and deprivation-related biological damage that introduces distortion during sound transduction (ear-to-brain). What is more, current wearable technology does not have the signal processing capability to provide adequate signal-to-noise ratios in crowded public establishments. Thus, in addition to wearable technology, it is also important to look to innovative, multi-faceted approaches to serve the communication needs of people. One such way is to empower people with information to choose environments where they can hear and be heard. A longstanding problem is that older adults withdraw socially, saying it is too difficult to hear at church, restaurants, cafes, etc. An ?anticipatory? strategy taught by audiologists and support groups is to ?anticipate? difficult listening situations and plan ahead by choosing locations that provide hearing assistive technology (e.g., hearing loops) and/or optimal sound levels. Despite this advice, it is difficult to determine noise levels in advance. Gathering spots, including restaurants, cafes, movie theaters, places of worship, can be very loud ? even for people without hearing loss. Therefore, we propose a digital platform that permits people to use GPS to locate establishments, and provide user-generated loudness ratings, so they can identify sound environments that are best for them. Through crowdsourcing, information about sound levels as well as the availability of hearing assistive technology, or ADA compliant locations, can be shared. Sound levels, images, and comments are collected using the app iHEARuTM. In its current form, iHEARuTM is a minimum viable product in beta form that has 700-plus beta users. Data from these beta users allow us to now evaluate user patterns and error messages. The data also have tremendous commercial value (e.g., Yelp, Google, licensed restaurants etc.); therefore, the purpose of Phase 1 is to develop a database and app that can be commercialized and used by licensee(s). To achieve this goal, we will work with experts in user-design to determine if: Aim 1) the mobile app can be improved to enhance user interaction and engagement, Aim 2) a digital platform can be designed with elements that are of value to citizens, scientists, and licensees.
Project Terms: Adult; Age; Amplifiers; Auditory system; base; Behavior; Behavioral; Biological; Brain; Brain Stem; burden of illness; Businesses; Church; citizen science; Communication; Crowding; crowdsourcing; Data; Databases; Deductibles; deprivation; design; Devices; digital; Dinçation; Ear; Elderly; Elements; Ensure; Environment; expectation; experience; Funding; General Population; Goals; Hair Cells; Health; Hearing; Hearing Aids; hearing impairment; Image; Impairment; improved; innovation; Leisures; Licensing; Location; Loudness; Mediation; member; Methods; mobile application; Modeling; movie; Neural Pathways; Noise; novel strategies; Pattern; Peripheral; Phase; Presbycusis; Prevalence; Private Sector; Problem Solving; psychologic; Public Sector; Published Comment; Quality of life; Reporting; Research; Restaurants; Rewards; Schools; Scientist; Self-Help Devices; Sensory; signal processing; Signal Transduction; social; Social isolation; social media; sound; Spottings; Support Groups; Surveys; System; Target Populations; Technology; Testing; Time; tool; trend; usability; wearable technology; Work; years lived with disability
