Haptic Alert Glasses for Deaf People

The senses are the capacities that allow us to perceive everything that surrounds us. This is how we can interact and understand our environment. The absence of one of them makes it more complicated to carry out our daily activities, affecting different aspects of our lives, such as communicating with other people or moving independently and safely [2].

Hearing impairment is the inability to adequately perceive environmental auditory stimuli [3]. Hearing loss is the complete, usually permanent, loss of hearing in one or both ears [4].

The consequences of untreated hearing loss are [5]:

1. Difficulties in communication and speech.
2. Difficulties in cognition process
3. Social isolation, loneliness and stigma
4. Social and economic consequences
5. Reduced opportunities for schooling
6. Higher unemployment rate
7. Reduced security

The 11th article of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities seeks to ensure the safety and protection of persons with disabilities in situations of risk [6].

1. Safety glasses
2. 2 electret microphones
3. 2 coin vibration motors
4. Arduino UNO
5. Breadboard
6. 2 electrolytic capacitors of 4.7 μF
7. 2 resistors of 1 kΩ
8. 4 resistors of 4 kΩ
9. Cables

The images show the initial conceptual design.

First, connect all the electronic components as shown in the diagram. With that, we are polarizing the microphones, taking the analog signal through a voltage divisor, and generating a digital output to the vibrating motors.

Upload the Arduino code from the file "Haptic_glasses.ino" to the microcontroller.

The code does the following: define the motor pins, set them as outputs, make an analog read, if the read value is grater than 520, turn on the motor, else, turn it off.

Finally, fix the microphones to the outer part of the temples and the vibration motors to the inner part.

References

[1] Audiology Island, "What Are the Symptoms of Hearing Loss?" Audiology Island, [Online]. Available: https://audiologyisland.com/blog/what-are-the-symptoms-of-hearing-loss/.

[2] E. GheibGholami, "Glasses", GrabCAD. [Online]. Available: https://grabcad.com/library/glasses-10.

[3] Gobierno de México, "Discapacidad auditiva," gob.mx, 2017. [Online]. Available: https://www.gob.mx/cms/uploads/attachment/file/106806/discapacidad-auditiva.pdf.

[4] Dicciomed, “Anacusia,”. Diccionario médico-biológico, histórico y etimológico, Universidad de Salamanca. [Online]. Available: https://dicciomed.usal.es/palabra/anacusia.

[5] Organización Mundial de la Salud, "Sordera y pérdida de audición," who.int, 2024. [Online]. Available: https://www.who.int/es/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/deafness-and-hearing-loss.

[6] United Nations, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), 2006. [Online]. Available: https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/convention-on-the-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities.html.