Multi-channel loudspeaker reproduction and virtual acoustic environments in the context of hearing aid evaluation

2016 ◽  
Vol 140 (4) ◽  
pp. 2999-2999
Author(s):  
Giso Grimm ◽  
Stephan Ewert ◽  
Volker Hohmann
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Acoustic Environments

Hearing Aid Amplification Reduces Communication Effort of People With Hearing Impairment and Their Conversation Partners

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 1299-1311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Beechey ◽  
Jörg M. Buchholz ◽  
Gitte Keidser
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Impairment ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Referential Communication ◽  
Hearing Impaired ◽  
Directional Hearing ◽  
Acoustic Environment ◽  
Communication Task ◽  
Acoustic Environments ◽  
The Impact

Objectives This study investigates the hypothesis that hearing aid amplification reduces effort within conversation for both hearing aid wearers and their communication partners. Levels of effort, in the form of speech production modifications, required to maintain successful spoken communication in a range of acoustic environments are compared to earlier reported results measured in unaided conversation conditions. Design Fifteen young adult normal-hearing participants and 15 older adult hearing-impaired participants were tested in pairs. Each pair consisted of one young normal-hearing participant and one older hearing-impaired participant. Hearing-impaired participants received directional hearing aid amplification, according to their audiogram, via a master hearing aid with gain provided according to the NAL-NL2 fitting formula. Pairs of participants were required to take part in naturalistic conversations through the use of a referential communication task. Each pair took part in five conversations, each of 5-min duration. During each conversation, participants were exposed to one of five different realistic acoustic environments presented through highly open headphones. The ordering of acoustic environments across experimental blocks was pseudorandomized. Resulting recordings of conversational speech were analyzed to determine the magnitude of speech modifications, in terms of vocal level and spectrum, produced by normal-hearing talkers as a function of both acoustic environment and the degree of high-frequency average hearing impairment of their conversation partner. Results The magnitude of spectral modifications of speech produced by normal-hearing talkers during conversations with aided hearing-impaired interlocutors was smaller than the speech modifications observed during conversations between the same pairs of participants in the absence of hearing aid amplification. Conclusions The provision of hearing aid amplification reduces the effort required to maintain communication in adverse conditions. This reduction in effort provides benefit to hearing-impaired individuals and also to the conversation partners of hearing-impaired individuals. By considering the impact of amplification on both sides of dyadic conversations, this approach contributes to an increased understanding of the likely impact of hearing impairment on everyday communication.

scholarly journals Electroacoustic assessment of wireless remote microphone systems

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Haniyeh Salehi ◽  
Vijay Parsa ◽  
Paula Folkeard
Keyword(s):  
Acoustic Signal ◽  
Background Noise ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Computational Models ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
The Other ◽  
Clinical Implications ◽  
Significant Interest ◽  
Acoustic Environments ◽  
Acoustic Conditions

Wireless remote microphones (RMs) transmit the desired acoustic signal to the hearing aid (HA) and facilitate enhanced listening in challenging environments. Fitting and verification of RMs, and benchmarking the relative performance of different RM devices in varied acoustic environments are of significant interest to Audiologists and RM developers. This paper investigates the application of instrumental speech intelligibility and quality metrics for characterizing the RM performance in two acoustic environments with varying amounts of background noise and reverberation. In both environments, two head and torso simulators (HATS) were placed 2 m apart, where one HATS served as the talker and the other served as the listener. Four RM systems were interfaced separately with a HA programmed to match the prescriptive targets for the N4 standard audiogram and placed on the listener HATS. The HA output in varied acoustic conditions was recorded and analyzed offline through computational models predicting speech intelligibility and quality. Results showed performance differences among the four RMs in the presence of noise and/or reverberation, with one RM exhibiting significantly better performance. Clinical implications and applications of these results are discussed.

The Relationship between the Acceptance of Noise and Acoustic Environments in Young Adults with Normal Hearing: A Pilot Study

2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (06) ◽  
pp. 584-591 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clifford A. Franklin ◽  
Letitia J. White ◽  
Thomas C. Franklin ◽  
Laura Smith-Olinde
Keyword(s):  
Background Noise ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Data Logging ◽  
Directional Microphone ◽  
Hearing Aid Use ◽  
Listening Environments ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Acoustic Environments ◽  
Different Characteristics

Background: The acceptable noise level (ANL) indicates how much background noise a listener is willing to accept while listening to speech. The clinical impact and application of the ANL measure is as a predictor of hearing-aid use. The ANL may also correlate with the percentage of time spent in different listening environments (i.e., quiet, noisy, noisy with speech present, etc). Information retrieved from data logging could confirm this relationship. Data logging, using sound scene analysis, is a method of monitoring the different characteristics of the listening environments that a hearing-aid user experiences during a period. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine if the ANL procedure reflects the proportion of time a person spends in different acoustic environments. Research Design: This was a descriptive quasi-experimental design to collect pilot data in which participants were asked to maintain their regular, daily activities while wearing a data-logging device. Study Sample: After completing the ANL measurement, 29 normal-hearing listeners were provided a data-logging device and were instructed on its proper use. Data Collection/Analysis: ANL measures were obtained along with the percentage of time participants spent in listening environments classified as quiet, speech-in-quiet, speech-in-noise, and noise via a data-logging device. Results: An analysis of variance using a general linear model indicated that listeners with low ANL values spent more time in acoustic environments in which background noise was present than did those with high ANL values; the ANL data did not indicate differences in how much time listeners spent in environments of differing intensities. Conclusions: To some degree, the ANL is reflective of the acoustic environments and the amount of noise that the listener is willing to accept; data logging illustrates the acoustic environments in which the listener was present. Clinical implications include, but are not limited to, decisions in patient care regarding the need for additional counseling and/or the use of digital noise reduction and directional microphone technology.

scholarly journals The Acoustic Environments in Which Older Adults Wear Their Hearing Aids: Insights From Datalogging Sound Environment Classification

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 594-603 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larry E. Humes ◽  
Sara E. Rogers ◽  
Anna K. Main ◽  
Dana L. Kinney
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Social Activity ◽  
Automatic Classification ◽  
Acoustic Environment ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Sound Environment ◽  
Acoustic Environments

Purpose This report presents data on the acoustic environments in which older adults with age-related hearing loss wear their hearing aids. Method This is an observational study providing descriptive data from 2 primary datasets: (a) 128 older adults wearing hearing aids for an average of 6 weeks and (b) 65 older adults wearing hearing aids for an average of 13 months. Acoustic environments were automatically and continuously classified about every 4 s, using the hearing aids' signal processing, into 1 of 7 acoustic environment categories. Results For both groups, older adults wore their hearing aids about 60% of the time in quiet or speech-only conditions. The automatic classification of sound environments was shown to be reliable over relatively short (6-week) and long (13-month) durations. Moreover, the results were shown to have some validity in that the obtained acoustic environment profiles matched a self-reported measure of social activity administered prior to hearing aid usage. For a subset of 56 older adults with data from both the 6-week and 13-month wear times, the daily amount of hearing aid usage diminished but the profile of sound environments frequented by the wearers remained stable. Conclusions Examination of the results from the automatic classification of sound environments by the hearing aids of older adults provides reliable and valid environment classifications. The present data indicate that most such wearers choose generally favorable acoustic environments for hearing aid use.

Spatial Acoustic Scenarios in Multichannel Loudspeaker Systems for Hearing Aid Evaluation

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (07) ◽  
pp. 557-566 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giso Grimm ◽  
Birger Kollmeier ◽  
Volker Hohmann
Keyword(s):  
Performance Measures ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Sound Field ◽  
Speech Quality ◽  
Reference Condition ◽  
Systematic Evaluation ◽  
Technical Performance ◽  
Acoustic Environments

Background: Field tests and guided walks in real environments show that the benefit from hearing aid (HA) signal processing in real-life situations is typically lower than the predicted benefit found in laboratory studies. This suggests that laboratory test outcome measures are poor predictors of real-life HA benefits. However, a systematic evaluation of algorithms in the field is difficult due to the lack of reproducibility and control of the test conditions. Virtual acoustic environments that simulate real-life situations may allow for a systematic and reproducible evaluation of HAs under more realistic conditions, thus providing a better estimate of real-life benefit than established laboratory tests. Purpose: To quantify the difference in HA performance between a laboratory condition and more realistic conditions based on technical performance measures using virtual acoustic environments, and to identify the factors affecting HA performance across the tested environments. Research Design: A set of typical HA beamformer algorithms was evaluated in virtual acoustic environments of different complexity. Performance was assessed based on established technical performance measures, including perceptual model predictions of speech quality and speech intelligibility. Virtual acoustic environments ranged from a simple static reference condition to more realistic complex scenes with dynamically moving sound objects. Results: HA benefit, as predicted by signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and speech intelligibility measures, differs between the reference condition and more realistic conditions for the tested beamformer algorithms. Other performance measures, such as speech quality or binaural degree of diffusiveness, do not show pronounced differences. However, a decreased speech quality was found in specific conditions. A correlation analysis showed a significant correlation between room acoustic parameters of the sound field and HA performance. The SNR improvement in the reference condition was found to be a poor predictor of HA performance in terms of speech intelligibility improvement in the more realistic conditions. Conclusions: Using several virtual acoustic environments of different complexity, a systematic difference in HA performance between a simple reference condition and more realistic environments was found, which may be related to the discrepancy between laboratory and real-life HA performance reported previously.

Clinical Considerations in Fitting a Multimemory Hearing Aid

1993 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 23-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis K. Kuk
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Impairment ◽  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Clinical Considerations ◽  
Acoustic Environments ◽  
Communication Needs ◽  
The One ◽  
Operational Issues

Multimemory hearing aids have the potential to better serve individuals with hearing impairment, but the technology is new and operational issues need to be resolved before their full advantages can be realized. The current situation is that not all individuals with hearing impairment would benefit from a multimemory hearing aid and not all multimemory hearing aids have the same features for every individual with hearing impairment. In addition, appropriate memory assignment is crucial to a successful fit. In evaluating a listener for a multimemory hearing aid, one must consider the individual's communication needs and psychophysical skills, his or her acoustic environments, and his or her listening preference. An understanding of the available multimemory devices is necessary in order to select the one that meets these requirements. The initial determination of optimal electroacoustic characteristics for each memory is important, but the need to provide constant support and continued follow-up cannot be overemphasized.

scholarly journals Hearing aid rehabilitation advocating counseling according to the acoustic environments in daily life: Application for data logging function.

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 250-255
Author(s):  
Daisuke Kataoka ◽  
Hiroshi Hidaka ◽  
Hideto Fukui ◽  
Masaya Konishi ◽  
Tadashi Doi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Daily Life ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Data Logging ◽  
Acoustic Environments
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