Decibel: Giving speech back to people using NIV
Product Design, 2023
About 1 million Americans use full face masks for non invasive ventilation each year. The mask supports breathing, but it can also make speech unclear, isolate patients from family, and make clinical communication harder during stressful care moments.
Decibel is a physical and digital communication system designed with Penn Medicine for people using NIV in hospitals and at home. It combines a wearable microphone, speaker hardware, voice enhancement, voice to text, multilingual translation, and a companion app to make communication clearer when patients need it most.
Research on Market Size
92,789
Long Term NIV users
896,170
NIV users in Hospitals
1,000,000
NIV full-face mask users /year
Primary Research
Face to Face Interview
Social Media Feedback Review
Observation
NIV Users seek seamless communication solutions.
Design process
User flow
Slide the clip into a strap on the mask
Press the adhesive microphone into place
Plug in the microphone to the transmitter
Product design
Associate system design
Mode 1:
Voice Enhancement
The software interprets the patient's speech and converts it into a clearer machine generated voice.
Flow:
• Record the patient's voice
• Generate a clearer machine voice
• Play the result for family or care teams
Step 1: Recording
Step 2: Generate to machine voice
(Click the voice to hear the demo)
(Click the voice to hear the demo)
Mode 2:
Voice to Text
The app can convert the patient's speech into text and support translation into different languages.
Core actions:
• Tap to record
• Convert voice into text
• Translate the message
• Share the message with others
Option to share the message with other people.
Tap the button to record patient’s voice.
Text can be translated into other languages.
Turns the patient’s voice into text messages.
Custom Features
Store your audio and text messages in ‘Notes’
Sort by date and conversation type
Send voice notes to family or care teams
Purchase accessories and replacement parts
Indicator showing mic charging status, and allow to locate the transmitter.
Check microphone charging status
Package Design
Hardware System
Wireless Charging System for Transmitters
Transmitter System
-
Bluetooth
-
Noise Cancellation
Speaker System
Result
The project translated 90+ interviews, observation, and stakeholder feedback into a physical and digital prototype. The work helped secure $100,000 in early stage investment interest and gave the team a concrete direction for continued medical device exploration.
The strongest value of the project is the combination of research depth, accessibility thinking, and physical plus digital system design.