App Boosts the Sounds You Have Trouble Hearing
From: Technology Review - 11/17/2011
By: Kenrick Vezina 

Smartphone users who have trouble hearing could benefit from ACEHearing, an
application designed to test for their specific form of hearing loss and then
customize the audio output of their device. ACEHearing enables the diagnostic
test via headphones, by having a smartphone play sounds across a range of
frequencies and asking whether the user can hear them. The software adjusts
the audio output by amplifying the frequencies that cause the most trouble
for the user, rather than simply turning up the volume on a device. The test
is equivalent to those administered by traditional audiologists, according to
the results of clinical trials. Chinese University of Hong Kong's Andrew van
Hasselt, one of the app's principal developers, says ACEHearing is a
proof-of-concept prototype that is part of a larger effort to add the
functionality to any device that produces sound. The Hearing Loss Association
of America's Barbara Kelly notes that it can take people up to seven years to
address a hearing loss, and ACEHearing's researchers say the app is designed
to accelerate that process by providing an easy-to-use solution. 

Read the entire article at:
http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/39149/

Links:
ACEHearing
http://www.ximplar.com/acehearing/

Andrew van Hasselt
http://www.ximplar.com/acehearing/team.htm