Tue, 10 May, 15:00 - 15:45 UTC
For the ICASSP Show and Tell session, Elevear is proposing a real-time demonstrator of an active occlusion cancellation system. Occluding an ear canal, e.g., by a headphone or hearing aid, leads to a muffled sensation of own-voice. An amplification of body-conducted sound as well as an attenuation of air-conducted sound gives an impression like talking under water. It is one the biggest problems in headphones and hearing aids, where it leads to decrease acceptance by users. Our algorithms are running on a specialized digital signal processor connected to commercially available headphones with direct access to speakers and microphones. Our technology creates a compensation signal to compensate the occlusion effect. The major novelty of our technology is the level of naturalness and its capability to adjust to users. Specifically, the algorithm adapts to different levels of occlusion while keeping ambient sound and the own-voice natural. The level of occlusion is different between headphones, between users as well as between individual sounds. The demonstration provides the community with a hands-on example usually only shown by graphs. It showcases the power of state-of-the-art signal processing paired with control theory. Attendees can experience and explore the occlusion effect and our proposed solution. We hope to facilitate an open conversation of the problem and shortcomings of available approaches. On-site, we will bring our real-time demonstrator. The attendees will be able to wear headphones and switch between different modes via an Android app. They can try out different actions creating strong and weak occlusion signals, including but not limited to talking, drinking, chewing, walking and jumping. For online attendees we are able to transmit the audio signal of an inner microphone within the ear canal.