Augmenting the Hearing of Safety-Critical Sounds for Highway Workers using Artificial Intelligence

Highway construction workers are regularly exposed to loud and complex noise environments from equipment, tools, and nearby traffic. While hearing protection equipment (HPE) is essential for preventing hearing loss, it often blocks important warning sounds—such as backup alarms or vehicle intrusion alerts—that are vital for worker safety. This tradeoff leads many workers to avoid using HPE, putting them at greater risk of both hearing damage and serious accidents. The objective of this project was to investigate a new sound filtering system for hearing protection equipment using artifical intelligence (AI) that can distinguish and attenuate undesired signals while enhancing safety-critical ones. The outcome of this research is a novel AI-Augmented Hearing Protection (AI-AHP) device, designed to address the persistent safety challenge of protecting highway construction workers exposed to loud, complex, and unpredictable noise environments. Unlike conventional hearing protection equipment that indiscriminately attenuates all sounds, the AI-AHP device introduces a transformative capability: selective noise filtering that suppresses unwanted noise while preserving or amplifying safety-critical signals, such as backup alarms and intrusion warnings.

• Record URL:
  • http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=5463
• Supplemental Notes:
  • The final report is available at: https://www.trb.org/Main/Blurbs/183332.aspx

Language

• English

Project

• Funding: $140,000.00
• Contract Numbers:

  Project 20-30, IDEA 247

• Sponsor Organizations:

  National Cooperative Highway Research Program

  Transportation Research Board
  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)

  444 North Capitol Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590

  Safety Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA)

  Transportation Research Board
  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Managing Organizations:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Project Managers:

  Zelinski, Patrick

• Performing Organizations:

  Clemson University

  110 Lowry Hall
  Box 340911
  Clemson, SC  United States  29634-0911
• Principal Investigators:

  Le, Tuyen

• Start Date: 20231001
• Expected Completion Date: 20250930
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Artificial intelligence; Hearing loss; Noise control; Protection; Road construction workers; Sound transmission; Work zone safety
• Subject Areas: Construction; Data and Information Technology; Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01875930
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Transportation Research Board
• Contract Numbers: Project 20-30, IDEA 247
• Files: TRB, RIP
• Created Date: Mar 20 2023 5:30PM