Our society is strongly and increasingly communication-oriented. As much of this focuses on sound and speech, many people experience severe limitations in their activities, caused either by hearing loss or by poor environmental conditions. In most cases these conditions only just meet the needs for adult native-language, and normal hearing people, but fall short for vulnerable groups like elderly, hard of hearing, young children, and second-language users. The HEARCOM project aims at full participation in the modern communication society by reducing the limitations in auditory communication.

The focus of HEARCOM is on:

1. The identification and characterization of auditory communication limitations,
2. The identification, modelling, and evaluation of ambient conditions that limit auditive communication in everyday situations,
3. The development of standardized testing and evaluation procedures for hearing impaired persons,
4. The development of rehabilitation and signal enhancement techniques that compensate adverse ambient conditions and personal disabilities,
5. The development of innovative assistive personal communication technology based on wireless communication links and assistive applications integrated in mainstream technologies, and
6. The development of Internet services that assist individuals and professionals in the improvement and compensation of communication problems.