A Conceptual Design Framework for an Enhanced Hearing Aid Application Using Selective Sound Amplification

The global increase of people with mild to moderate hearing loss indicates the need for more affordable and reliable hearing solutions. This article suggests a framework for designing a smartphone-based hearing aid application to help the user better hear the dominant speaker in the presence of multiple other speakers. The proposed framework uses features such as speaker diarization and noise suppression to achieve the goal of this research, highlighting the most needed sound source automatically while subduing background disturbances. Specifics for a framework that can address these shortcomings were gathered from a literature survey and a focused group study of user needs. Finally, the framework was evaluated by conducting a comparative analysis with features of highly rated existing hearing aid applications and an expert evaluation. This conceptual framework serves as a building block for further work concerning implementing and evaluating expanded efforts to empower hard-of-hearing people with an inexpensive but easy-to-use, and effective hearing aid.