LIAISE: Leuven Interactive Assistant for LIStening Enhancement

Careful evaluation and treatment of hearing impairment are extremely important to alleviate the long-term consequences on health and quality of life. In this project we take the necessary steps to bring a virtual therapist for auditory rehabilitation to the market. It is based on a listening training app developed by ExpORL and will be extended to a virtual therapist that provides a closed-loop between assessment, listening training and counseling. It will serve as a co-therapist to the clinician and to many persons who are not entitled to audiological rehabilitation in the clinic. The virtual therapist will offer scientifically validated and tailored audiological rehabilitation based on the client’s progress. The hearing care professional will be able to monitor progress remotely, while the client will also be able to proceed independently at its own pace. The feedback provided by the virtual therapist will allow the client to take ownership of its rehabilitation and lead to improved hearing and social function. For the professional, the virtual therapist will decrease workload while providing better individual care to more clients. We will take all required steps to bring the virtual therapist to the market: further validate it in randomized control trials, implement the interface for professionals, adapt to different languages, take steps towards regulatory approval as a medical device, and further develop the business plan.

Keywords:audiological rehabilitation, virtual therapist, personalized hearing care

Disciplines:Speech, language and hearing sciences not elsewhere classified