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Conference Paper

Designing a Augmented Reality Auditory Training Game for in-situ training and diagnostic tool for the hearing impaired

Authors: Koh, Pooseung; Kim, Sungyoung

AES Conference: AES 2024 International Audio for Games Conference · Paper 16 · April 2024

Abstract

The World Health Organization reports that around 20% of the global population is affected by hearing impairment, a trend expected to only grow in the foreseeable future. Consequently, the development of accessible auditory training modules and diagnostic tools has become increasingly vital. In response, we propose an innovative Aug-mented Reality (AR)-based auditory training game that serves as an comprehensive auditory training/rehabilitation application for improving speech in noise perception and sound localization. Leveraging advancements in AR technology and mobile device computing power, our game incorporates audio-motor function into traditionally static training environments, with a design that focuses on enhancing selective auditory attention. The game challenges users to discriminate between two similarly pronounced words and identify the correct one in context, providing a novel approach to auditory training. A distinctive feature of our game is its ability to track the user’s movement relative to spatial audio sources. This tracking can provide valuable data for medical professionals, as the movements are visualized to a 2d mapping of their navigational data, revealing insights into the user’s auditory processing capabilities. Future work will assess the game’s training efficacy and its effectiveness as a diagnostic tool, alongside further enhancements to its auditory AR capabilities for real-time acoustic environment simulation.

Details

Published in
AES Conference: AES 2024 International Audio for Games Conference
Paper number
16
Publication date
April 6, 2024
Session subject
Auditory Training Gamification Augmented Reality Immersive Sound
Affiliation
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (See document for exact affiliation information.)
Type
Conference Paper