Aqsa Hussain

Academic

Career

Verbatim text

Smart Hearing Aid 
This Smart Hearing Aid prototype will demonstrate a dynamic hearing device that provides a 
temporary/removable hearing solution to people suffering from sensorineural hearing loss which causes 
over 90 per cent of hearing loss in adults. Hearing loss can be caused due to ageing, high noise exposure, or 
any other injury that can cause trauma to the ear. Thus, artificial sound amplification through hearing aids, in 
cases where a medical/surgical alternative isn't applicable is required. 
Hearing loss causes a reduction in one's ability to listen to certain sounds and affects over 5% of each 
country's population and over 10 million in Pakistan (2018). This Smart Hearing Aid Prototype aims to 
dynamically amplify and filter the desired input sounds while suppressing any undesirable noisy signals. It 
will also provide people with the ease of adjusting the intensity of the output signal dynamically (according 
to their loss level) so the users won’t face the difficulty of adjusting the intensity or volume manually. 
Moreover, it aims to target clinically four types of hearing losses, each having different degrees and intensity 
of hearing loss: Mild (20 to 40 decibels), Moderate (41 to 60 decibels), Severe (61 to 80 decibels), and 
Profound (more than 81 decibels). This prototype will only take the input hearing loss value or range (as 
stated in their medical reports) and then will adjust its device operation setting automatically. 
Its operation will mainly consist of detecting the sound signal and pre-amplifying it for filtering, gain 
adjustment, noise removal and signal processing stages before finally power-amplifying it as the output 
signal to the user. This project execution was mainly divided into a two-part simulation, i.e., the software 
simulation and the hardware-amplifier simulation. First, the sound pre and power amplifier and filter designs 
were implemented on MATLAB and Proteus for software simulation and then later on PCB or Vero boards 
these connections to Raspberry pi (digital signal processing) - for final hardware implementation. The sound 
detection will be done using a sound sensor and the signal processing will be performed by a coded and 
connected microcontroller – Raspberry pi. 
Future Application: Encourage or start local production of this hearing aid prototype in Pakistan (after 
proper testing and prototype adaptation to a commercial product/device). 
 
 
 
 
 
Technology Used: 
Python, Raspberry Pi, MATLAB, Proteus 
Supervisor Name: 
Dr Arshad Hassan 
Group Members:   
Aqsa Hussain (i16 - 0423) 
Aqsa Kamran (k17 - 2352) 
                                                                                                                                      Marium Sajid (i17 - 0497)