The Human Factors Research Group is looking for volunteers to take part in workshops which will ask you to evaluate the designs of digital games that have been created to help people learn about different hearing aid functionalities as well as enable them to practise changing between functionalities in different simulated situations to meet changing demands.

The games also aim to help people without hearing difficulties to understand how hearing loss can affect everyday activities and how hearing aids can improve people’s hearing in different situations. This study is part of the Horizon 2020 funded project called 3D games for tuning hearing aids (3D-Tune-In) which is being carried out by universities and game developers across Europe.

The group is looking for groups of people aged from 7 years onwards with mild to severe hearing loss (but not completely deaf) who must be users of BTE, ITE, RIC and CIC hearing aids (i.e. no hearing aids which require surgery). Participants must be English speakers who are able to communicate without the need for sign language interpreters. All participants should be interested in using technologies to improve their hearing.

Your participation will involve filling in a questionnaire and attending a group workshop. At the workshop you will be shown designs for digital games and asked to tell the researchers what you think about them. There will be individual and group activities involved in this evaluation. As compensation for your time, you will receive a £25 Amazon voucher on completion of the workshop.

There will be a number of workshops during February and March and participants will be organised into the following age groups: 7-14; 15-18; 19-40; 41-60; over 61. A date for your workshop will be agreed once enough participants for your age group have been recruited. The team will try to ensure that the date is acceptable for all participants. Workshops will take place at the Human Factors Research Group office, University Park, The University of Nottingham.

For more information about the study, or to sign up please email M.Hallewell@nottingham.ac.uk or call 0115 951 4040 and ask for Maddy Hallewell.

If you would like more information about the 3D-Tune-In project, please visit the 3D Tune-In website. You can also find the project on Facebook and Twitter.