Project
# | Title | Team Members | TA | Documents | Sponsor |
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8 | Hearing Damage Detector and Alarm System |
Alex Yuan Jake Fava Jinzhi Shen |
Hojoon Ryu | design_document7.pdf final_paper5.docx photo1.jpg photo2.jpg presentation1.pptx proposal1.pdf video |
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# Hearing Damage Detector and Alarm System Team Members: - Alex Yuan (ayuan20) - Jinzhi Shen (jinzhis2) - Jake Fava (jfava2) # Problem Middle and high school musicians can be subjected to harmful levels of noise on a daily basis between rehearsals, practice sessions, and performances. Cheap and effective hearing protection is available, but many students neglect using it until they start noticing the effects of their hearing damage years later. # Solution Our solution is a device that provides live feedback to musicians about their noise exposure in an attempt to encourage more regular use of existing hearing protection equipment. # Solution Components ## Subsystem 1 - Sensor Interface (Microphone) To capture the sound pressure levels, we’ll need a microphone that is omni-directional, responsive to the frequencies that the human ear is responsive to (about 10Hz-20kHz), and has a suitably high signal-to-noise ratio (~60dB or above). One microphone that fits these criteria is the TOM-1537L-HD-LW100-B-R. Accompanying this microphone will be a pre-amp circuit to filter out DC noise and prepare readings to be used by the microcontroller. ## Subsystem 2 - Microcontroller Unit Our microcontroller will need to be able to take input data from the microphone interface and turn it into useful information for the user. There are two types of feedback we’d like to be able to provide: 1 - instantaneous SPL readings in dB and 2 - integrated SPL over time (also called “sound exposure”) to gauge potential hearing damage accumulated over a session. A potential MCU to use for our device is the ATMega4808, which contains a 10-bit analog-to-digital converter and 48 kB of RAM. Although a future version of this device could be powered by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery for the sake of portability. Due to time and scope limitations of the course, we will be powering this device via USB. ## Subsystem 3 - User Interface To present live feedback on instantaneous SPL, the device could feature a series of LEDS that light up in response to recorded dB. They should range from green for safe sound levels up to red for potentially dangerous sound levels. To present a report of sound exposure over the course of a session, we will plan to pull the data from the device onto a computer (just like the computers that would be located in a practice room or classroom) and perform the necessary integration operation there to conserve system resources. This operation will produce a report detailing the amount of sound exposure and what hearing damage it has the potential to cause. # Criterion For Success 1. The device needs to be able take a signal from a microphone and accurately calculate SPL from the data. 2. The device needs to be able to display instantaneous SPL data in the form of lit-up LEDs 3. The device needs to be able to upload recorded SPL data to a computer to perform the integration and generate a report. |