SICONA: the development of signal conditioning communication aids for the severely hearing impaired.

Project SICONA endeavours to satisfy the specific needs of the severely hearing impaired. A complex system is introduced, consisting of several speech processing modules to achieve an improvement of the communication ability within the target group. The basic methods are improving the S/N-ratio by multichannel wireless FM transmission, enhancing weak consonants and second formant information and transposing the unvoiced fricative /s/ into the residual hearing area. Single case studies indicate the effectiveness of the proposed methods; improved reception of speech features within the F2 range and successful integration of the replacement /s/ could be shown. Practical useability is achieved by introducing wireless coupling between the miniaturized (SMD technology, ASIC) system components.