Periodic Reporting for period 1 - D-Noise (Distributed Network of Active Noise Equalizers for Multi-User Sound Control)
Berichtszeitraum: 2017-05-01 bis 2018-10-31
The problem is regular exposure to noise in enclosures such as inside a vehicle (in which the noise is generated by engine, tyres and airflows around the vehicle’s body), inside an aircraft (in which the noise is generated by the propulsion system and airflows around the aircraft’s body), or in noisy environments such as dwellings exposed to (air) traffic noise. This constant noise can for instance make the communication more disrupted, requiring the users to shout over the noise in order to be clearly heard. Moreover, the external audio signals (such as music, audio announcements, TV signals) have to be amplified to go over the background noise. This can indeed cause discomfort and inconvenience. One solution to alleviate this is to use the existing one-per-user active noise control (ANC) headphones to effectively suppress the background noise. However, this is not comfortable and even not allowed in some cases (e.g. driver of a vehicle). Therefore, we have been seeking an alternative solution to provide the users with a satisfactory ANC performance, but without using any over-the-ear devices such as headphones.
Regular exposure to consistent elevated noise levels has shown to be the cause for different health problems such as noise-induced hearing impairment, hypertension, sleep disturbance, changes in the immune system, cardiovascular adverse defects and even birth defects. In addition, elevated noise levels such as aircraft noise can cause stress and impairment of memory, and fatigue, and other attention and concentration difficulties, both for passengers and for pilots. Recent reports show that all these noise-related effects entail bulk of costs in the health system of many developed countries. Therefore, there is a clear need for developing a new technology that can reduce the adverse effects caused by exposure to consistent noise.
In the said noisy enclosures, the goal is to let the users control the background noise, although they are typically located close to each other. We aim at realizing such a technology without using any over-the-ear devices such as headphones, and at overcoming limitations of available technologies. The system then simultaneously provides an auditory comfort to all the users.
Regular exposure to consistent elevated noise levels has shown to be the cause for different health problems such as noise-induced hearing impairment, hypertension, sleep disturbance, changes in the immune system, cardiovascular adverse defects and even birth defects. In addition, elevated noise levels such as aircraft noise can cause stress and impairment of memory, and fatigue, and other attention and concentration difficulties, both for passengers and for pilots. Recent reports show that all these noise-related effects entail bulk of costs in the health system of many developed countries. Therefore, there is a clear need for developing a new technology that can reduce the adverse effects caused by exposure to consistent noise.
In the said noisy enclosures, the goal is to let the users control the background noise, although they are typically located close to each other. We aim at realizing such a technology without using any over-the-ear devices such as headphones, and at overcoming limitations of available technologies. The system then simultaneously provides an auditory comfort to all the users.
Both partners’ research teams and business units have been engaged in the activities related to this project. Scientific conclusions and achievements can be summarized according to the reports submitted during the course of the project, as follows:
A hardware platform consisting of two adjacent audio chairs have been designed and built. A technical report has explained how these chairs were equipped with actuators (i.e. loudspeakers) and sensors (i.e. microphones) in order to fulfil the tasks. Furthermore, the points such as the communication to the processing unit, sound acquisition and production, and signal routings have been discussed.
Advanced signal processing algorithms have been developed to achieve the ultimate goal of this project. The submitted technical report presented the main scientific contributions of the developed algorithms. Furthermore, the performance of the developed algorithms have been carefully assessed through different experiments, using the software implementation in Matlab environment.
The acoustic environment wherein the experiments and demos have been carried out during this project has been prepared according to the requirements of this project. A technical report has been submitted in which the acoustic characteristics (such as acoustic insulation, listening characteristics, reverberation time and room responses) of this environment have thoroughly been explained. The environment is located in Audio Processing Laboratory of the Institute of Telecommunications and Multimedia Applications (iTEAM) of the UPV.
A software interface for managing the system has been developed for this project. This interface has been implemented in HTML and allows the users to control the system using their personal devices such as their tablets or smartphones.
Listening and usability tests for potential end users have been carried out. For this, the subjects have been asked to assess and rate the recorded outputs in terms of the sound quality, sensation and usability. The test has been developed based on a number of paired comparisons. The way the audio signals were recorded in the listening room, using a binaural mannequin head with two calibrated microphones at the ear channels, was explained in the submitted reports. The report further provided the activities developed to fulfil the tasks and presented the main initial results after performing the listening and usability surveys (according to usability objectives).
The first step towards exploitation of the innovation developed within this project has already been started. For this, a patent application is currently being drafted by the KU Leuven Research & Development - Technology Transfer Office (LRD). After the IPR protection, the partners of the project will be able to reach the market and better understand the potentials for the developed technology. At this moment, both of the following options are considered: 1) introduce the technology as new to the market (commercial exploitation), 2) license the technology to an existing organization or company.
A hardware platform consisting of two adjacent audio chairs have been designed and built. A technical report has explained how these chairs were equipped with actuators (i.e. loudspeakers) and sensors (i.e. microphones) in order to fulfil the tasks. Furthermore, the points such as the communication to the processing unit, sound acquisition and production, and signal routings have been discussed.
Advanced signal processing algorithms have been developed to achieve the ultimate goal of this project. The submitted technical report presented the main scientific contributions of the developed algorithms. Furthermore, the performance of the developed algorithms have been carefully assessed through different experiments, using the software implementation in Matlab environment.
The acoustic environment wherein the experiments and demos have been carried out during this project has been prepared according to the requirements of this project. A technical report has been submitted in which the acoustic characteristics (such as acoustic insulation, listening characteristics, reverberation time and room responses) of this environment have thoroughly been explained. The environment is located in Audio Processing Laboratory of the Institute of Telecommunications and Multimedia Applications (iTEAM) of the UPV.
A software interface for managing the system has been developed for this project. This interface has been implemented in HTML and allows the users to control the system using their personal devices such as their tablets or smartphones.
Listening and usability tests for potential end users have been carried out. For this, the subjects have been asked to assess and rate the recorded outputs in terms of the sound quality, sensation and usability. The test has been developed based on a number of paired comparisons. The way the audio signals were recorded in the listening room, using a binaural mannequin head with two calibrated microphones at the ear channels, was explained in the submitted reports. The report further provided the activities developed to fulfil the tasks and presented the main initial results after performing the listening and usability surveys (according to usability objectives).
The first step towards exploitation of the innovation developed within this project has already been started. For this, a patent application is currently being drafted by the KU Leuven Research & Development - Technology Transfer Office (LRD). After the IPR protection, the partners of the project will be able to reach the market and better understand the potentials for the developed technology. At this moment, both of the following options are considered: 1) introduce the technology as new to the market (commercial exploitation), 2) license the technology to an existing organization or company.
To the best of our knowledge, there are currently only a few established competitions available, of which none has a proposition that can deal with the scenario described above, where the acoustic interactions between the PACs are unavoidable due to their proximity of the control points. In terms of market maturity, however, an initial study has been revealed that there is a growing demand in the sector of ANC solutions.
At the end of the D-Noise project, a complete proof-of-concept prototype of the system has become operational in the laboratory environment and currently being evaluated in terms of the performance, usability, robustness and extra potentials. This is considered as the minimum viable product (MVP) of our technology in future actions.
According to World Health Organization (WHO), there are 466 million people in the world with disabling hearing loss (6.1% of the world's population). WHO has also warned that it is likely that the number of people with disabling hearing loss will grow over the coming years, unless preventive actions are taken. Projections show that the number could rise to 630 million by 2030 and may be over 900 million in 2050. WHO however states that half of all cases of hearing loss can be prevented through public health measures, including reducing exposure to loud sounds by encouraging individuals to use protective devices such as earplugs and noise-cancelling devices. According to NOISEinEU, the cost of damage caused by the noise generated by road and rail traffic in the European Union was recently estimated at €40 billion (750 billion is the overall global cost, according to WHO), which represents around 0.4 % of the European Union's total GDP.
Therefore, the ANC technology developed by this project can be used to control the background noise. This does not only alleviate the sleep and stress problems, or attention and concentration difficulties caused by noise, but also restrains the rapid growth of the number of people with disabling hearing loss over the coming years, which would otherwise impose an enormous cost on the healthcare systems worldwide.
At the end of the D-Noise project, a complete proof-of-concept prototype of the system has become operational in the laboratory environment and currently being evaluated in terms of the performance, usability, robustness and extra potentials. This is considered as the minimum viable product (MVP) of our technology in future actions.
According to World Health Organization (WHO), there are 466 million people in the world with disabling hearing loss (6.1% of the world's population). WHO has also warned that it is likely that the number of people with disabling hearing loss will grow over the coming years, unless preventive actions are taken. Projections show that the number could rise to 630 million by 2030 and may be over 900 million in 2050. WHO however states that half of all cases of hearing loss can be prevented through public health measures, including reducing exposure to loud sounds by encouraging individuals to use protective devices such as earplugs and noise-cancelling devices. According to NOISEinEU, the cost of damage caused by the noise generated by road and rail traffic in the European Union was recently estimated at €40 billion (750 billion is the overall global cost, according to WHO), which represents around 0.4 % of the European Union's total GDP.
Therefore, the ANC technology developed by this project can be used to control the background noise. This does not only alleviate the sleep and stress problems, or attention and concentration difficulties caused by noise, but also restrains the rapid growth of the number of people with disabling hearing loss over the coming years, which would otherwise impose an enormous cost on the healthcare systems worldwide.