HomeSound

Quick Info

Project Date Jan. 15, 2018 - Present
PIs: Leah Findlater (PI)
Jon E. Froehlich (Co-PI)
Sponsors: NSF
Keywords: accessibility, deaf, deaf and hard of hearing, smarthome

News

Dhruv Jain Honored with Willian Chan Memorial Dissertation Award

Jan 30, 2023 | Jon

Huge congratulations to recently graduated Makeability Lab PhD student—now Michigan professor—Dhruv Jain on being recognized with the William Chan Dissertation Award. The Allen School has a lovely writeup, which quotes some of my thoughts worth repeating here. “Dhruv’s dissertation research makes fundamental advances in the design of sound sensing and feedback systems for people who are deaf or hard of hearing,” Froehlich said. “Throughout his dissertation work, Dhruv has worked closely with the DHH community to understand diverse needs and evaluate his systems, including through large online surveys, interviews and field deployments.” Jain’s own experiences as a DHH individual informed his research and helped shape his focus on the user experience. “Dhruv’s dissertation not only exemplifies the human-centered design process in the creation of accessible technologies but also makes transformative technical innovations in integrating AI and HCI to improve information access,” Froehlich added. “As a testament to its impact, his work has received multiple paper awards and a Microsoft Research Dissertation Grant, and SoundWatch has been released and downloaded by over 2,000 Android watch users worldwide.” As rather surreal twist, I was honored with the same award a decade ago. It is both humbling and even more fulfilling to have one of my own students receive the award. Congrats Dhruv!

Dhruv Jain Receives Microsoft Dissertation Grant

Aug 18, 2021 | Jon

Congratulations to Dhruv Jain who was selected for the prestigious Microsoft Research Dissertation Grant for his work on “Sound Sensing and Feedback Techniques for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Users.” The MSR Dissertationg Grant aims to "increase the pipeline of diverse talent receiving advanced degrees in computing-related fields by providing a research funding opportunity for doctoral students who are underrepresented in the field of computing." Read more on the Allen School news page.

Dhruv Jain Selected for Google-CMD-IT LEAP Alliance Fellowship

Aug 05, 2021 | Jon

Congratulations to Dhruv Jain who was selected for the Google-CMD-IT LEAP Alliance Fellowship. CMD-IT stands for the Center for Minorities and People with Disabilities in IT and is dedicated to "promoting innovation that enriches, enhances, and enables our target communities, such that more equitable and sustainable contributions are possible by all communities."

About

Smarthome sound awareness prototype

One of the three smarthome sound awareness prototypes we explored via a wizard-of-oz study

The home is filled with a rich diversity of sounds from mundane beeps and whirs to dog barks and children’s shouts. In this project, we examine how deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) people think about and relate to sounds in the home, solicit feedback and reactions to initial domestic sound awareness systems, and explore potential concerns. We present findings from two qualitative studies: in Study 1, 12 DHH participants discussed their perceptions of and experiences with sound in the home and provided feedback on initial sound awareness mockups. Informed by Study 1, we designed three tablet-based sound awareness prototypes, which we evaluated with 10 DHH participants using a Wizard-of-Oz approach. Together, our findings suggest a general interest in smarthome-based sound awareness systems particularly for displaying contextually aware, personalized and glanceable visualizations but key concerns arose related to privacy, activity tracking, cognitive overload, and trust.