3rd International Workshop on Pervasive Computing Paradigms for Mental Health

Research Article

A Real-Time Selective Speaker Cancellation System for Relieving Social Anxiety in Autistics

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  • @INPROCEEDINGS{10.4108/icst.pervasivehealth.2013.252156,
        author={Weidong Shi and Xi Wang and Xi Zhao and Omprakash Gnawali and Katherine Loveland and Varun Prakash},
        title={A Real-Time Selective Speaker Cancellation System for Relieving Social Anxiety in Autistics},
        proceedings={3rd International Workshop on Pervasive Computing Paradigms for Mental Health},
        publisher={IEEE},
        proceedings_a={MINDCARE},
        year={2013},
        month={5},
        keywords={autism auditory hypersensitivity social anxiety selective speaker cancellation},
        doi={10.4108/icst.pervasivehealth.2013.252156}
    }
    
  • Weidong Shi
    Xi Wang
    Xi Zhao
    Omprakash Gnawali
    Katherine Loveland
    Varun Prakash
    Year: 2013
    A Real-Time Selective Speaker Cancellation System for Relieving Social Anxiety in Autistics
    MINDCARE
    IEEE
    DOI: 10.4108/icst.pervasivehealth.2013.252156
Weidong Shi,*, Xi Wang1, Xi Zhao1, Omprakash Gnawali1, Katherine Loveland2, Varun Prakash3
  • 1: Univeristy of Houston
  • 2: The University of Texas Health Science Center
  • 3: University of Houston
*Contact email: wshi3@uh.edu

Abstract

Due to hypersensitivity to sound, patients with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) can feel frustrated and even profoundly fearful when talking with multiple speakers. This exacerbates their impairments in social interaction and communication. We propose a fully interactive system that allows ASD patient to focus on a single auditory stream (a person’s voice) according to their preference during conversations. The system has the capacity to filter out other speakers’ voices based on distinguishing their locations. The experimental results have demonstrated our prototyping system works reliably in regular conversations.