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Shush
A hearing protector, a companion app and a proposal for shared noise information.
Digital render. Protector in the ear, 2024.
SHUSH is a hearing protector, a companion app and a proposal for shared noise information. It explores how protecting one person from environmental noise could also make the wider problem visible.
Individual graduation project
Université Laval, 2024
Research, industrial design, prototyping,
interface design, systems concept
Developed from Murmur, an earlier
collaborative research phase
Research progression: sound fieldwork, concept sketches, and ear-fit exploration.
Noise is everywhere. Its consequences are less visible.
Traffic, construction, neighbourhood activity and shared living spaces create repeated exposure that people rarely understand or control. As the research developed, the focus moved from sound sensitivity toward the limits of addressing exposure through individual behaviour alone.
Murmur research phase, co-led with a classmate.
SHUSH final report (2024), pp. 48–52.
Residents surveyed during Murmur, the collaborative research phase that informed SHUSH.
290
01 / 03
A protector designed around everyday wear.
Digital render. Protectors seated in the charging case.
Acoustic geometry
An internal elliptical tunnel carries sound through a hearing filter. Its form approximates aspects of the ear canal, to reduce resonance and perceived noise while keeping sound clear.
Design rationale. Acoustic performance was not independently validated.
Material strategy
The design specifies a PLA shell covered with medical-grade silicone where the protector meets the ear, for comfort and a continuous contact geometry.
The exhibition prototype was made in 3D-printed resin and molded silicone. Its material grade was not independently certified.
Design requirements
Minimum noise reduction of 5 dB
Comfort during extended wear
Target price of CAD $200 or less
Better public awareness
Systemic change
Set in the brief. Requirements, not test results.
Inside the protector and its case.
Digital render. Component architecture, 2024.
Charging case
Upper outer shell
Lower outer shell
Lower inner shell
PCB and USB-C charging connector
Li-ion battery, 3.7 V
Charging contacts for the protectors
Protector
Upper shell
Lower shell
Filter
O-ring
Antenna
PCB
Li-ion battery, 3.7 V
Battery protector
Battery and protector charging contacts
The case charges the protectors through contacts in each cavity. Each protector holds its own PCB, battery, antenna and acoustic filter.
SHUSH / PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT
01 / FIT AND FORM
Wearability and form exploration.
A participant fit study and an earpiece mould document wearability and iterative form exploration.
Fit study on a participant; earpiece mould.
01 / 03
shush
SOUND, IN CONTEXT
S
MONDAY, 16 JUNE
Today
Your sound, at a glance.
CURRENT READING
60
dB
11:00 AM / PERSONAL MONITOR
PERSONAL REFERENCE
60 dB
TODAY'S PATTERN
Sound levels across your day
8
9
10
11
12
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
ILLUSTRATIVE PROTOTYPE DATA
WEEKLY AVERAGE
67 dB
Last 7 days
ABOVE YOUR REFERENCE
6h / day
Average
VIEW FULL REPORT ↗
9:41
History
Public
Goals
Later redesign in Figma. Values illustrative.
Making exposure understandable.
The companion app turns what the protector measures into a current reading, a daily pattern and a personal reference, so noise becomes something a person can see and act on.
See today’s exposure
Current reading and how it compares with a personal reference.
Compare across days
History over seven days, thirty days or all time.
Set a personal reference
A level the person chooses, against which readings are compared.
Original interactive prototype, Adobe XD, 2024. Demonstrated on an iPad at the graduate exhibition.
Earlier exploration / 2024
From personal information to collective awareness.
The project proposed that anonymized exposure readings could be aggregated and made accessible to citizens and public institutions, as an open-access approach to a public-health issue.
What exists, and what was proposed.
Designed
The hearing protector, its charging case, the acoustic geometry and the material specification.
Fabricated
An exhibition prototype in 3D-printed resin and molded silicone.
Demonstrated
Arduino-based noise monitoring with Bluetooth Low Energy, and an interactive Adobe XD companion app, at the 2024 graduate exhibition.
Proposed
An anonymized public information system, and a business model with a target price of CAD $200 or less.
Not validated
Acoustic attenuation, certification, clinical outcomes, production readiness and behaviour change. The minimum 5 dB reduction was a design requirement, not a measured result.
Designing the object is only part of the problem.
SHUSH began as a personal protection concept and grew into an investigation of environmental noise, connected information and the shared responsibility for acting on it.
Digital render. Protector and charging case, 2024.
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