In 2030, 68 Million people in Europe will suffer from hearing loss. Currently, only 29% of them decide to treat it (31% more than today). A figure not very reassuring if we take into account that 50% of teenagers nowadays are exposed to unsafe levels of sound from the use of personal audio devices and the damaging sound levels at clubs, discotheques and bars. Why aren’t we as aware of losing our hearing as we are of losing any other of our senses? Why do we wait until it becomes severe to realize its importance?

Amplifon challenges participants of SIC 2018 to explore ways to raise awareness about hearing loss by designing and building creative prototypes that allow users of different ages (seniors, adults, younger people…) to experience, visualize, and possibly detect hearing loss as well as gain a better understanding of what we are missing when we suffer from it. We aim to do that by leveraging signal processing, visualization and data analysis techniques that allow us to better understand the process behind hearing loss. Our ultimate aim is to engage a wider spectrum of people in better understanding hearing loss, its causes and consequences, in order to establish key findings and versatile solutions for future prevention and treatment.

NOTE: Amplifon will provide the creators of its challenge with an NDA agreement to be signed prior to start working on the Challenge. This NDA agreement will not affect the overall communication of the activity.

Profile

• Cognitive scientist
• Expert in audio processing
• Data scientist / machine learning expert
• Creative developer (interfaces, hardware)
• UX Designer

Amplifon is the global leader in hearing solutions and services for retail expertise, customization and consumer care. Through a network of more than 10,000 points of sale, of which approximately 4,300 are direct-sale high street shops, 3,800 service centres and 1,900 affiliates, Amplifon is active in 22 Countries across 5 continents. Amplifon continuously develops unique services, tools and protocols by blending the most innovative technologies alongside scientific know-how with a human touch to empower everybody to rediscover all the emotions of sounds.

*Amplifon Intellectual Property Policy: We see the Sonar Innovation Challenge as a great opportunity to meet like minded people that are eager to generate an impact through technology. After this challenge, we hope that you’ll become part of our knowledge hub and continue to collaborate on future projects.

As a sponsor of the Sonar Innovation Challenge, we need to guarantee ownership of the IP coming out of the project, however as a company with a long term interested in young talent and innovation we would encourage all participants to continue working on this topic on a purely academic, non-commercial context and we will be considering potential opportunities for future collaboration, after completing the challenge.

Participants working in Amplifon’s challenge will need to adhere to the following IP clause:

“Any intellectual property rights developed wholly, or in part, by Party 2 during the course of its engagement with Party 1 as part of the Sonar Innovation Challenge 2018 shall vest in Party 1 and Party 2 shall take all reasonable steps that Party 1 may request to ensure such rights are accordingly assigned or registered to Party 1. In such an event, Party 1 will, in good faith, consider potential opportunities to continue to work with Party 2 post-completion of the Purpose. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Party 2 shall be entitled to use and develop their Party 2 contributions for any non-commercial purpose, whether scientific, academic or otherwise, including sharing with third parties provided such third parties are subject to confidentiality obligations no less strict that set out herein.”

(“Party 1” refers to Alpha, “Party 2” refers to the team of creators that participate in the challenge)