title: Improvement of voice quality and prevention of deafness by a bone-conduction device.
abstract: In modern society, people are involuntarily being exposed to various noises in their everyday-life environments. The increasing use of mobile phones and other portable devices as a primary means of communication outside of homes makes the current noise condition even worse. During the exchange of information on these devices, the volume is usually set 15 dB higher than the surrounding noise in order for the sound to be perceived more clearly. Hence, the sum of noise on these devices is usually estimated to be around 110 dB. This level of noise can cause noise-induced hearing impairment or even hearing loss to users when continued for a long time. A bone-conduction system can be a possible solution to reducing the noise while enhancing the quality of voice signals in mobile phones. In this study, we suggest that the implementation of the bone-conduction feedback system in mobile phones will raise the ratio of signal to noise with about 17 dB, enhancing the quality of voice signals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Transportation Environmental Research, Korea Railroad Research Institute , Uiwang-si , Gyeonggi-do , Korea.
authors.forename: Hyung-Woo
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of English Language and Literature, Soongsil University , DongJak-Ku , Seoul , Korea.
authors.forename: Myung-Sook
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Electrical Engineering Department, Soongsil University , DongJak-Ku , Seoul , Korea.
authors.forename: Myung-Jin
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Bae
keywords: bone-conduction; noise reduction; noise-induced hearing loss; speech quality enhancement