The 6th BAIRAL Research Meeting for 2023
“asEars: Designing and Evaluating the User Experience of Wearable Assistive Devices for Single-Sided Deafness”

◇BAIRAL（B’AI RA League）

BAIRAL is a study group by young research assistants (RA) of the B’AI Global Forum of the Institute for AI and Beyond at the University of Tokyo. Aiming to achieve gender equality and a guarantee of rights for minorities in the AI era, this study group examines relationships between digital information technology and society. BAIRAL organizes research meetings every other month with guest speakers in a variety of fields.

◇Date & Venue

・Date: Monday, March 18, 2024, 5:00-6:30 pm (JST)
・Venue: Zoom Meeting（No registration required）
https://u-tokyo-ac-jp.zoom.us/j/89207069815?pwd=dAuD1xbslY8aPFMI85VKvyq5ET4rdM.1
Meeting ID: 892 0706 9815 / Passcode: 272772
・Language: Japanese

◇Guest Speaker

Ken Takaki
(PhD Student, Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Systems, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo)

◇Abstract

Single-sided deafness (SSD) restricts social participation in hearing/speaking cultures due to the person’s difficulty hearing conversations on the deaf side. Although hearing aids for SSD are effective in social situations, their adoption rate remains at 4%. Mr. Takaki, who experiences SSD himself, keenly understands the communication challenges posed by the condition. Consequently, he has been advancing the research and development of the glasses-type device called asEars to support individuals with SSD.

In this presentation, he will introduce his study, where he and his colleagues designed and developed a bone conduction-based device to be worn on glasses, involving 53 individuals with SSD. Additionally, a four-week diary study was conducted to compare the asEars device with conventional Contralateral Routing of Signals (CROS) hearing aids. The results showed that the proposed device was more acceptable for users with SSD due to its effectiveness, social acceptability, and other factors. (URL: https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3544548.3580840)

Usability, appearance, and social acceptability are indispensable factors for encouraging the use of technology that enrich daily lives. We look forward to engaging in deep discussions with participants about these challenges.

◇Organizer

B’AI Global Forum, Institute for AI and Beyond at the University of Tokyo

◇Inquiry

Nozomi Ohtsuki (Research assistant of the B’AI Global Forum)
ohtsuki6nozomi[at]g.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp (Please change [at] to @)

The 6th BAIRAL Research Meeting for 2023“asEars: Designing and Evaluating the User Experience of Wearable Assistive Devices for Single-Sided Deafness”

The 6th BAIRAL Research Meeting for 2023
“asEars: Designing and Evaluating the User Experience of Wearable Assistive Devices for Single-Sided Deafness”