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Kurakata Lab
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The lab aims to create products and living environments that remain easy to use as people grow older.
AboutAbout the lab
Easy-to-use products and a safe, comfortable living environment for everyone
The Kurakata Lab (Ergonomics of Aging Lab) studies how human senses change with age.
In particular, it clarifies age-related changes in hearing through psychological experiments and sound measurements.
The results are applied to the design of alert sounds and voice guidance in products, and of sounds in everyday living environments.
The lab aims to create products that are easy for everyone to use regardless of age, and living environments where people can live with peace of mind.
Key terms
- Ergonomics of aging
- A field that studies how the characteristics of the body and senses change with age and applies the findings to the design of products and environments
- Hearing threshold
- The quietest sound level that a person can hear
- Accessible design
- The design of products and environments with consideration so that older adults and people with disabilities can also use them
NewsLab news
Contributed chapters to the book New Pollution Prevention Technology and Regulations: Noise and Vibration (2026), now published
Contributed chapters to the Handbook of Sensation and Perception Psychology, Third Edition, now published
A paper analyzing differences in speaking rate in everyday conversation was published in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of Japan
A co-authored book, Accessible Design (Revised and Expanded Edition), was published
ResearchResearch themes
The lab uses psychological experiments and sound measurements to clarify how human senses change with aging. It aims to organize the results into a form that can be used in the design of products and living environments.
*Illustrative imageAge-related changes in hearing and reference values
The lab measures how hearing changes with age and determines the reference values needed to interpret audiometry results. It aims to have these findings reflected in revisions of the international standard that specifies hearing thresholds by age and sex.
*Illustrative imageEarly detection of earphone-related hearing loss
The lab improves extended high-frequency audiometry, which measures hearing at higher frequencies than ordinary audiometry, and explores methods for detecting at an early stage the hearing loss caused by prolonged exposure to loud sound.
*Illustrative imageSound design that is easy for everyone to use
The lab evaluates the alert sounds and voice guidance emitted by devices, taking into account age-related changes in hearing. This work feeds into the development of design guidelines for accessible design that can be used regardless of age or disability.
MembersFaculty
- Kenji Kurakata
VoicesStudent voices
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Write a lab reviewAnonymous · Your draft is saved if you stopRelatedLabs similar to Kurakata Lab
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Miura LabSchool of Human Sciences, Department of Human Information ScienceCognitive psychologyThe information on this page is compiled by the LabLog team from the lab's public information and interviews. For corrections or removal requests, please contact LabLog, not the lab.
Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Headphones 1” PJ / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Age-related changes in hearing and reference values: “Tuning Fork 288 HZ” K.Venkataramana / CC0 (cropped)
- Early detection of earphone-related hearing loss: “Earphones BW” Berthold Werner / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Sound design that is easy for everyone to use: “Acoustic Traffic Signal (Green)” BATACHAN / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Kato Lab): “Pedestrian Crossing in Front of the Station - panoramio” heri / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Hida Lab): “Factory interiors” Friedrich Haag / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Sugimori Lab): “Red jigsaw puzzle piece on green pieces” Profpcde / CC0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Miura Lab): “Russian ballet pointe shoes, 1997, silk - Bata Shoe Museum - DSC00244” Daderot / CC0 (cropped)
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