Pukyong National University

Head-up display ideas visualizing sound is getting academia's spotlight

- PKNU students' work won the grand prize at the 19th I.E competition

△ Award-winners taking a commemorative photo. (From right) Seo Yong-Gyo, Kim Ga-Bin, Kim Min-Seo, and Cha Young-Hwa.

The idea of a head-up display (HUD) that visualizes sound for auditory disabled drew attention.

This is the work 'head-up display visualizing sound' that won the grand prize in the 19th Intelligent electronics contest hosted by the Korean institute of power electronics (chairman Lee Taek-Ki).

The student team (advisory prof. Noh Eui-Cheol) of Cha Young-Hwa, Kim Ga-Bin, Kim Min-Seo, and Seo Yong-Gyo, who are students in their 3rd year of electrical engineering at Pukyong National University, received the grand prize of the Minister of trade, industry and energy at this competition by designing a system that displays the direction and volume level of sounds heard from outside the car on the HUD in front of the driver.

They designed a system that recognizes sound with six microphone sensors installed on the front, rear, and side of the car, and displays the direction and size of the sound on a circular LED on the HUD. When someone else's vehicle sounds the horn from behind the car, the light is on the lower side of the circular LED, and when someone else's vehicle sounds the horn from the right, the light comes on to the right of the circular LED.

Using this system, hearing-impaired people can directly check and pay attention to the horn sound of nearby vehicles. In particular, the emergency siren from an ambulance, fire engine, or police car is displayed as a separate pictogram such as a red cross, so drivers can pay more attention.

This system is designed to vibrate in the direction of sound through not only LEDs but also eight vibration motors installed on the driver's seat.

Cha Young-Hwa said, "We designed and applied for this work so that hearing impaired people can drive safely by using auditory information such as horns and sirens when driving."

Professor Noh Eui-Cheol said "This work is meaningful in that it can ensure the safety of deaf drivers as well as passengers and those around them. I expect that elderly drivers and non-disabled drivers with impaired hearing can also use it as an assistive means for safe driving."

The grand prize-winning team will be provided with benefits to participate in the 'Young engineer poster competition (YPC)' among the 'IEE-Japan industry applications society (IEEJ-IAS) conference' to be held in Japan on August 30, as well as return flights and accommodation. <Pukyong Today>

△ Winning Students

△ Description image for the design work of 'Head-up display visualizing sound'