RU2681113C1 - Interactive hearing and speech development simulator for children with 1-4 degree of hearing loss - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: medicine.SUBSTANCE: invention relates to the medical equipment, namely to the educational interactive tools for the hearing and speech development in suffering from hearing loss children. Hearing-speech development simulator contains a control unit, a teacher’s control panel, the trainees interactive modules, peripheral devices including the teacher’s headphones, students headphones, the teacher’s and trainees microphones, at that, the control unit is equipped with the audio card and the teacher's microphone, connected to the binaural exciter, equipped with an individual scale of changes in operating frequencies for the student each ear, at least two interactive modules of trainees and the teacher’s control panel, made in the form of the teacher’s touch screen, with possibility of displaying thereon of the certain trainee choice window, frequencies scale for the student's left and right ears, signal level measurement scale, input signal selector and the student vibrotactile device vibration force regulator, each interactive module of the student contains the student’s touch screen and the interactive module processor, associated with the student’s exciter and the peripheral devices, additionally containing the vibrotactile device, at that, the control unit with the teacher’s control panel, students interactive modules and peripheral device connectors are built into the made in the form of a table housing.EFFECT: use of the invention allows to increase the efficiency of the hearing-speech development in children during group training due to the possibility of instantly changing the module with the audiogram individual settings on both ears for each student from the group.1 cl, 4 dwg, 1 tbl

Description

The invention relates to teaching interactive tools, namely, a technique for audiology and can be used for the auditory-speech development of children suffering from hearing loss.

The following technical solutions are known from the prior art.

A well-known interactive simulator of auditory-speech development, including a microphone, an electronic board and headphones, characterized in that the electronic board is configured to create a database for storing training images and audio files, display training images on a display, and is equipped with a connector for connecting to a computer (RF patent No. 2525366, published 08/10/2014).

Also known is the Solo-01 Wired Auditory-Voice Wired Simulator (http: //xn--80adibjhowntpk3ai.xn--plai/magazin/product/trenazher-slukhorechevoy-provodnoy-individualnoqo-polzovaniya-solo-01v-ms-vibrotakroilnym . timbre-amplifying unit, teacher’s microphone, student’s microphone and headphone, network adapter, vibro-tactile device.

The closest analogue to the patented solution is the multi-touch speech simulator "INTON-M" (http://npfuniton.ru/d/44870/d/trenazher-inton-m-novoe-nazvanie.pdf). including a stereo earhook for connecting hearing aids, closed headphones, in-ear headphones, teacher’s microphone, student’s microphone, “INZ” sensor, tactile vibrator, cable for connecting a personal computer or external audio device, high-power headphones, direct audio input cable for connecting hearing aids, additional student console with a wired microphone, FM system (transmitter, receiver, charger).

The disadvantages of the known solutions are that most of them are not intended for group training, but in those systems where group training is provided, for example, in systems with multi-touch screens and with multi-channel audio outputs, the quality of training decreases due to the need to reconfigure the system for each individual student, in addition, the existing systems do not provide for the constant maintenance of tactile contact between the student and the screen

The technical problem solved by the invention is to develop a simulator of auditory-speech development, which should allow conducting simultaneous classes for groups of children without loss of quality of education.

The technical result of the patented solution is to increase the effectiveness of the auditory-speech development of children during group training due to the possibility of instantly changing the module with individual audiogram settings for both ears for each student in the group with an increase in the quality of processing, digitization and visualization of the action on the multi-touch screen.

The design of the auditory-speech development simulator contains a control unit, a teacher’s control panel, interactive modules of the student, peripheral devices including teacher’s headphones, student’s headphones, teacher’s and student’s microphones, and the control unit is equipped with a teacher’s audio card and microphone, connected to a binaural exciter equipped with an individual change scale working frequencies for each ear of the student, at least two interactive modules of the student and the teacher’s control panel, made in the form of teacher’s touch screen, with the ability to display on it a window for selecting a particular learner, a frequency scale for the student’s left and right ears, a signal level measuring scale, an input signal selector and a vibration force regulator of the student’s vibrotactile device, each student’s interactive module contains the student’s touch screen and an interactive processor module associated with the exciter and the peripheral devices of the student, additionally containing vibrotactile device, and the control unit with the panel Yu teacher management, interactive modules to train and connectors

The specified technical result is achieved by connecting the exciter to the computer on which the software with the function of storing the audiogram of the student is installed. Each student has his own audiogram, and the devices on the market require a constant change of settings when changing students. The proposed simulator contains a system for storing and storing audiograms for different students, which greatly facilitates the management of the complex. Also, unlike existing simulators, the proposed simulator has the ability to individually configure the audiogram on both ears of the student due to the presence of a binaural analog exciter connected to the ADC combined with a computer platform.

Next, the solution is illustrated by reference to the figures, which show the following.

FIG. 1 - general view of the simulator.

FIG. 2 is a general diagram of an interactive module.

FIG. 3 - control circuit simulator.

FIG. 4 - control panel interface.

The methodology of the proposed simulator implies an individual lesson of a teacher with a student or a group of students, during which the tasks offered by the computer program are performed using audio equipment and interactive monitors. The proposed simulator allows for group classes, which is very important for children, given the complexity of their socialization. At the same time, classes are conducted using multi-touch screens, allowing multiple students to work in multitasking mode at the same time. The software was developed taking into account the main aspect - the constant maintenance of the student’s tactile contact with the screen.

The simulator is a hardware-software complex containing an interactive module, a hardware module, a control unit and a switching system. The simulator is structurally made in the form of a single housing 1, combining these modules and representing a table in which the listed modules are embedded. The ergonomic case of the simulator does not contain sharp corners, made of natural materials, safety, fireproof (MDF or solid).

The hardware of the simulator is a system that combines a binarial exciter with an individual scale for changing the operating frequencies for each ear of the student, a vibro-tactile device that duplicates sound, an input / output system, a computer information processing module based on the Intel Core i3 processor, two redundant interactive panels student / teacher.

On the front side of the simulator case, the simulator hardware contains a control panel 5 containing a user interface, which also displays a frequency scale for the student’s left and right ears, a dual scale for measuring the signal level with the possibility of adjustment, an input signal selector (four signal supply options), a regulator vibration forces of the vibrotactile device and the audiogram selection window of a particular student. The list of peripheral devices of the hardware includes teacher / student headphones, vibro-tactile device, microphones, connectors 3 for connecting student and teacher microphones, headphone jacks, connector for vibro-tactile device, a control unit 9 is built into the table, which contains 4 connectors for peripheral hardware devices.

The interactive module includes a 24``-27 '' LCD matrix, an interactive LED bezel, tempered glass, a computer based on the Intel NUC platform, a controller, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), an audio system, a case, audio and video outputs, HDMI, VGA, Displayport, Ethernet, etc.

The production of an interactive module (MI) begins with the design of the MI housing. The main materials for production are MDF and metal.

Among the components of the MI is an LED matrix.

The interactive frame is a closed loop consisting of LEDs and photodiodes. Diodes are mounted on the board by serial soldering. Switching with a computer is carried out using flat ribbon cables.

The principle of operation of the infrared sensor frame (Fig. 2). To determine the point of contact, two lines of LEDs 7 are located, vertically and horizontally, and two lines of photodiodes 6, located on opposite sides of the screen 6. Each LED 7 has its own photodiode 6. This optical pair works in this way: when voltage is applied to the LED, it emits infrared light 8, invisible to humans, within a very small solid angle, in order to get onto "one's own" photodiode and not touch neighboring ones. Any obstacle (for example, a finger touching the screen), partially or completely blocking the light beam, leads to a decrease or termination of the electric current through the corresponding photodiode 6. This change captures the microcontroller, making it possible to calculate the contact coordinates with high accuracy. Typically, LEDs and photodiodes in a line have dimensions of the order of 2.5 mm, that is, for each square centimeter of the panel there are four horizontal and four vertical scanning beams. However, the interpolation mechanisms that the microcontroller uses make it possible to calculate the position of the obstacle with greater accuracy. The infrared interactive screen is made in the form of a frame that does not have glasses or transparent films. Therefore, a change in brightness, contrast and color reproduction, as well as the manifestation of additional glare, is excluded, which is an undoubted advantage of such a screen.

The glass used in the interactive module is tempered at the Moscow Glass Factory to ensure operational safety.

The interactive part of the simulator is a “sandwich” of UHD or FullHD matrix, infrared frame and tempered glass, or matrix and glass with projection-capacitive touch recognition technology

The main component of the hardware is a binaural analog exciter. An analog system is used, taking into account its maximum efficiency, characterized by the purity and saturation of the outgoing sound. At the same time, an analog exciter should be able to interface with a computer module to combine a sound transmission system with interactive software.

Required technical parameters of an analog exciter:

- The maximum sound level in the headphones of the hearing aid is 150 dB

- Sound purity of an analog exciter - 97%

- The frequency of sound waves is in the range of 60-7300 Hz.

The binaural analog exciter is powered from an alternating current network of 220 V and a frequency of 50 Hz by means of an adapter that converts an alternating mains voltage of 220 V into a constant stabilized voltage of 15 V. It is suitable for operation in the temperature range from plus 100 ° C to plus 350 ° C and in 80% humidity conditions at a temperature of 25C.

All developed technical means and peripheral devices are interfaced by means of switching equipment, including Jack, RG-45, HDMI, coaxial cables.

Connection order:

The flat cable "loop" of the sensor infrared frame is connected to the controller of the control module - the controller is connected to the Intel NUK computer platform - the computer platform is combined with the ADC (Section 2.3.1) - the ADC is connected to the analog exciter of the simulator hardware. All audio outputs (microphone, headphones), as well as a vibro-tactile device are interfaced through connectors with the Intel NUK computer platform.

The control computer of the interactive module is developed on the basis of the Intel NUC platform.

The program part is a set of interactive educational games adapted for children with disabilities in hearing and vision, with various levels of difficulty. Games are aimed at training the air stream, pronunciation, as well as general development.

The main task of the control unit is to coordinate the operation of the analog-to-digital converter of the hardware when processing and converting analog signals to digital, as well as to visualize information taken from the hardware of the simulator.

The control circuit "Computer - Sensor - Matrix - Hardware complex" works as follows (Fig. 3):

• The teacher-audiologist directs the task for the student through the control unit to the interactive module, performing an action on the touch screen

• A task is issued on the touch screen of the interactive module, the child gets acquainted with it and performs the action by delivering sound to the microphone (or works on the touch screen if the task implies this)

• The audio signal received by the microphone of the hardware module passes through the analog-to-digital converter of the exciter and is transformed into a digital stream;

• The digital stream enters through the driver of the audio card to the control unit

• The control unit directs the digital stream to the processor of the interactive module, where, using the software, the digital stream activates an interactive picture that gives an appropriate response to the action (example: training an air stream of a hearing impaired child - the child receives a task to blow bugs from the trees, blows into the microphone with a certain force, and on the screen of the interactive module a storm is initiated, blowing off bugs)

• In parallel, the following action is carried out: the control unit submits to the exciter the task of transforming the digital stream, in order to complete the digital stream so that the child hears his voice without interference

• All information on the student’s screen is duplicated by the teacher

Claims (2)

1. The auditory-speech development simulator comprising a control unit, a teacher’s control panel, interactive modules of the student, peripheral devices including teacher’s headphones, student headphones, teacher’s and student’s microphones, characterized in that the control unit is equipped with a teacher’s audio card and microphone, connected to a binaural exciter, equipped with an individual scale for changing working frequencies for each ear of the student, at least two interactive modules of the students and the teacher’s control panel, made in the form e the teacher’s touch screen, with the ability to display on it a window for selecting a particular student, a frequency scale for the student’s left and right ears, a signal level measuring scale, an input signal selector and a vibration force regulator of the student’s vibro-tactile device, each student’s interactive module contains the student’s touch screen and processor an interactive module associated with the exciter and the student’s peripheral devices, additionally containing a vibro-tactile device, the control unit with Anel teacher management, interactive modules to train and connections for peripherals integrated in the housing, in the form of a table. 2. The simulator according to claim 1, characterized in that the learner’s interactive module contains an infrared interactive LED frame.

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