Situational Awareness

The perception and understanding of elements in one's environment, including the ability to detect events, comprehend their significance, and anticipate what may happen next. For deaf and hard of hearing individuals, situational awareness is significantly affected by limited access to auditory information such as approaching vehicles, emergency alarms, conversations, and environmental cues. Assistive technologies that provide sound awareness aim to restore or supplement this awareness through visual, haptic, or text-based feedback. Effective situational awareness support requires conveying not just what sounds are present but also their loudness, direction, urgency, and contextual meaning.