Hearing aid through skin sensory for profound deaf people

An individual with profound deafness or total hearing loss has a hearing threshold of 80dB or more. The ineffectiveness of hearing aids, surging costs and complex surgeries for cochlear implants have discouraged many to opt for these types of treatments. Hence, this research aims to provide an alternative hearing aid that stimulates “hearing” through the skin sensory, which is more affordable and accessible for the profoundly deaf or total hearing loss community. We have developed four initial vibrating transducers with single spectrum, which are strapped to a belt. The transducers pick up audible sounds through a microphone, amplifies the sound to a high-level signal, stimulating a vibration pattern on the human skin sensory. The belt was tested on 30 random people who identified as normal, partial, and profoundly deaf. When the belt was strapped to the individual’s waist, audible sound was played (stimulus) and the individual was asked whether he/she can feel a stimulation or vibration on their skin, and if so, state the sound source direction. Based on the test, all individuals were able to feel the vibrating stimulation on their skin, and they were also able to state the directions accurately. The various vibrating pattern that stimulates the human sensory system for the profoundly deaf can be learned over time, which could serve as useful information. However, interpreting and identifying the different types of vibrating pattern perceived through the skin remains a huge challenge for profoundly deaf people. As hearing through skin sensory is a very new area of research, there are very limited research articles published in this field. Thus far, this is the first study to evaluate the method of audio spectrum to develop hearing aid through skin sensory.

Identifikasi Kerusakan Altenator Daihatsu Luxio dengan Metoda Fungsi Respon Frekuensi

Gasoline engines should sound soft, even tend to be minimal. But when the symptom of a rough sound emerged from the engine room, it was even more like a diesel sound that was quite loud. So that many customers have complained about the rough sound of their vehicle's engine when the engine is started, from the results of the initial inspection that was carried out as a result of the rough noise coming from the bearings on the alternator which experienced wear due to reduced lubrication in the bearings. This requires that preventive maintenance checks on the alternator are a must in the automotive world. On the basis of the above, in this paper, we will discuss the damage to the Daihatsu Luxio alternator with the frequency response function (FRF) method. Damage to the alternator can be seen at point A and point D, seen with a frequency at 1500 Hz in a damaged condition, while in good condition there is no frequency at 1500 Hz. At points B, C, E, and F have the same vibration pattern between the damaged and undamaged conditions. Visually checking results show that the bearing component at point A, it is known that the ball bearing is peeling. This results in a rough spinning of the bearing and makes the alternator make a rough noise while working.

Omnidirectional Haptic Guidance for the Hearing Impaired to Track Sound Sources

We developed a hearing assistance system that enables hearing-impaired people to track the horizontal movement of a single sound source. The movement of the sound source is presented to the subject by vibrating vibrators on both shoulders according to the distance to and direction of the sound source, which are estimated from the acoustic signals detected by microphones attached to both ears. We presented the direction of and distance to the sound source to the subject by changing the ratio of the intensity of the two vibrators according to the direction and by increasing the intensity the closer the person got to the sound source. The subject could recognize the approaching sound source as a change in the vibration intensity by turning their face in the direction where the intensity of both vibrators was equal. The direction of the moving sound source can be tracked with an accuracy of less than 5° when an analog vibration pattern is added to indicate the direction of the sound source. By presenting the direction of the sound source with high accuracy, it is possible to show subjects the approach and departure of a sound source.

Fault detection and diagnosis using vibration signal analysis in frequency domain for electric motors considering different real fault types

Purpose Electric motors are present in most industries today, being the main source of power. Thus, detection of faults is very important to rise reliability, reduce the production cost, improving uptime and safety. Vibration analysis for condition-based maintenance is a mature technique in view of these objectives. Design/methodology/approach This paper shows a methodology to analyze the vibration signal of electric rotating motors and diagnosis the health of the motor using time and frequency domain responses. The analysis lies in the fact that all rotating motor has a stable vibration pattern on health conditions. If the motor becomes faulty, the vibration pattern gets changed. Findings Results showed that through the vibration analysis using the frequency domain response it is possible to detect and classify the motors in several induced operation conditions: healthy, unbalanced, mechanical looseness, misalignment, bent shaft, broken bar and bearing fault condition. Originality/value The proposed methodology is verified through a real experimental setup.

Multisensory visuo-tactile context learning enhances the guidance of unisensory visual search

Does multisensory distractor-target context learning enhance visual search over and above unisensory learning? To address this, we had participants perform a visual search task under both uni- and multisensory conditions. Search arrays consisted of one Gabor target that differed from three homogeneous distractors in orientation; participants had to discriminate the target’s orientation. In the multisensory session, additional tactile (vibration-pattern) stimulation was delivered to two fingers of each hand, with the odd-one-out tactile target and the distractors co-located with the corresponding visual items in half the trials; the other half presented the visual array only. In both sessions, the visual target was embedded within identical (repeated) spatial arrangements of distractors in half of the trials. The results revealed faster response times to targets in repeated versus non-repeated arrays, evidencing ‘contextual cueing’. This effect was enhanced in the multisensory session—importantly, even when the visual arrays presented without concurrent tactile stimulation. Drift–diffusion modeling confirmed that contextual cueing increased the rate at which task-relevant information was accumulated, as well as decreasing the amount of evidence required for a response decision. Importantly, multisensory learning selectively enhanced the evidence-accumulation rate, expediting target detection even when the context memories were triggered by visual stimuli alone.

MODELLING AND ANALYSIS OF FUEL ASSEMBLY VIBRATIONAL MODES IN PWRS USING SIMULATE-3K

Some of the KWU pre-KONVOI PWRs operating across Europe saw a systematic increase in the neutron noise levels over several cycles in the last decade, and subsequently, core internals’ movements, especially vibrations of fuel assemblies with specific designs were identified as one of the plausible causes. Therefore, it is important to develop computational methods that can allow to investigate and predict the reactor noise response to fuel assemblies vibrations. To this aim, the 3D nodal reactor dynamics code SIMULATE-3K is used at PSI with a special module called the ‘assembly vibration model’ that imitates time-dependent motions of fuel assemblies by dynamically modifying the water-gaps surrounding the laterally moving fuel assemblies. The varying water-gaps are represented by the variation in the corresponding two-group macroscopic cross sections generated using the lattice code CASMO-5 in 2D. The studies conducted so far to assess the methodology for full core noise simulations were based on assuming vibrations of a clamped-free cluster of fuel assemblies that are unsupported from both ends. However, as this represents a non-physical movement, further developments were made at PSI to allow simulating more realistic movements of fuel assemblies such as the cantilevered mode vibration. The updated methodology, along with evaluations of the simulated noise response to realistic vibration modes, is presented in this paper. Results show that, as expected, the radial and axial neutron noise behaviour follow the vibration pattern of the imposed time-dependent axial functions corresponding to the natural oscillation modes of the fuel assemblies, thereby providing confidence in the application of the developed methodology for numerical neutron noise analyses of the PWR cores.

Application of the LMS algorithm to identify the surface velocity responsible for the radiated sound pressure

A time domain approach based on the least mean square (LMS) algorithm is applied to reconstruct the source amplitude and source distribution on a plate. For this a numerical experiment is established. A boundary element model is used to calculate the required impulse response functions describing the pressure in near- and far-field for a given volume flow at individual patches on the plate. Three different cases are considered. Firstly, a volume flow is given to a single patch. The LMS algorithm is used to reconstruct the source signal by means of receiving positions in the far-field. Secondly, the approach is used to identify the vibration pattern and source signal on a line of patches. Thirdly, a vibration pattern was given to the plate as the whole. For the reconstruction an assumption was made about the underlying vibration patterns (e.g. expansion in vibrational modes). Such an approach proved to be very time efficient and powerful. It also showed the need to place the receiving positions in the near-field to be able to obtain correct results over the whole frequency range. However, this is not a problem of the approach based on the LMS algorithm, but just due to the underlying physics. It is not possible to deduce the near-field from far-field observations, and therefore the vibrations mainly leading to a near-field are simply not visible in the far-field.

Assistive cane for visually impaired persons for uneven surface detection with orientation restraint sensing

Purpose The reduced ability of eyes to see clearly even with the use of glasses is known as the state of visual impairment. Among the many challenges faced, outdoor travel is one of them requiring to travel through surfaces, which has potholes and bumps. Design/methodology/approach The depth of the pothole and height of the bump is also conveyed to the user through different vibration pattern of various intensity. With available electronic travel aids, the visually impaired persons are still more inclined to rely on their white cane than carrying additional equipment for obstacle avoidance. In the system, all the components can be attached to the white cane, requiring no additional device to carry. Findings Upon experimentation with different obstacle types, the system obtained a 24.88% higher score in comparison to normal walking cane. A comparison with the state of the art available systems is also provided. Originality/value Moreover, the accuracy of the assistive cane can be heavily degraded if the cane is not properly held by the user. To restrict the user to hold the cane in only required orientation an alignment sensing switch is also proposed, which is missing in the current available literature.

Uitsiton: wearable for mobility of the visually impaired

This article explains the development of the Uitsiton system, capable of detecting obstacles to alert visually impaired users, increasing their mobility and confidence when moving. Uitsiton is made up of a portable electronic device (wearable) and a mobile application (App) that operates under the Android platform. The wearable is integrated into a vest-like garment. It is used to compute the approximate distance between the visually impaired user and the obstacles that they can find in their path. The wearable covers a range of 180 degrees vertically and horizontally with respect to the center of the torso, and reaches a maximum distance of 120 cm. The App works synchronously with the wearable, it receives a series of data corresponding to the measurements of the distance between the user and the obstacle, and it triggers a sound pattern and a vibration pattern according to the proximity of the obstacle.