A Wearable, Extensible, Open-Source Platform for Hearing Healthcare Research

Louis Pisha; Julian Warchall; Tamara Zubatiy; Sean Hamilton; Ching-Hua Lee; Ganz Chockalingam; Patrick P. Mercier; Rajesh Gupta; Bhaskar D. Rao; Harinath Garudadri

doi:10.1109/ACCESS.2019.2951145

IEEE Access (Jan 2019)

A Wearable, Extensible, Open-Source Platform for Hearing Healthcare Research

Louis Pisha,
Julian Warchall,
Tamara Zubatiy,
Sean Hamilton,
Ching-Hua Lee,
Ganz Chockalingam,
Patrick P. Mercier,
Rajesh Gupta,
Bhaskar D. Rao,
Harinath Garudadri

Affiliations

Louis Pisha: ORCiD; Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
Julian Warchall: Booz Allen Hamilton, Arlington, VA, USA
Tamara Zubatiy: School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
Sean Hamilton: Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
Ching-Hua Lee: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
Ganz Chockalingam: Qualcomm Institute, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
Patrick P. Mercier: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
Rajesh Gupta: Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
Bhaskar D. Rao: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
Harinath Garudadri: Qualcomm Institute, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2019.2951145
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 7
pp. 162083 – 162101

Abstract

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Hearing loss is one of the most common conditions affecting older adults worldwide. Frequent complaints from the users of modern hearing aids include poor speech intelligibility in noisy environments and high cost, among other issues. However, the signal processing and audiological research needed to address these problems has long been hampered by proprietary development systems, underpowered embedded processors, and the difficulty of performing tests in real-world acoustical environments. To facilitate existing research in hearing healthcare and enable new investigations beyond what is currently possible, we have developed a modern, open-source hearing research platform, Open Speech Platform (OSP). This paper presents the system design of the complete OSP wearable platform, from hardware through firmware and software to user applications. The platform provides a complete suite of basic and advanced hearing aid features which can be adapted by researchers. It serves web apps directly from a hotspot on the wearable hardware, enabling users and researchers to control the system in real time. In addition, it can simultaneously acquire high-quality electroencephalography (EEG) or other electrophysiological signals closely synchronized to the audio. All of these features are provided in a wearable form factor with enough battery life for hours of operation in the field.

Published in IEEE Access

ISSN: 2169-3536 (Online)
Publisher: IEEE
Country of publisher: United States
LCC subjects: Technology: Electrical engineering. Electronics. Nuclear engineering
Website: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/RecentIssue.jsp?punumber=6287639

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