Auditory-model based assessment of the effects of hearing loss and hearing-aid compression on spectral and temporal resolution

Authors

  • Borys Kowalewski Hearing Systems Group, Department of Electrical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
  • Ewen MacDonald Hearing Systems Group, Department of Electrical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
  • Olaf Strelcyk Sonova U.S. Corporate Services, Warrenville, IL, USA
  • Torsten Dau Hearing Systems Group, Department of Electrical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark

Abstract

Most state-of-the-art hearing aids apply multi-channel dynamic-range compression (DRC). Such designs have the potential to emulate, at least to some degree, the processing that takes place in the healthy auditory system. One way to assess hearing-aid performance is to measure speech intelligibility. However, due to the complexity of speech and its robustness to spectral and temporal alterations, the effects of DRC on speech perception have been mixed and controversial. The goal of the present study was to obtain a clearer understanding of the interplay between hearing loss and DRC by means of auditory modeling. Inspired by the work of Edwards (2002), we studied the effects of DRC on a set of relatively basic outcome measures, such as forward masking functions (Glasberg and Moore, 1987) and spectral masking patterns (Moore et al., 1998), obtained at several masker levels and frequencies. Outcomes were simulated using the auditory processing model of Jepsen et al. (2008) with the front end modified to include effects of hearing impairment and DRC. The results were compared to experimental data from normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners.

References

Edwards, B. (2002). “Signal processing, hearing aid design, and the psychoacoustic Turing test,” Proc. International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, 2002, Orlando, Florida.

Fereczkowski, M., Kowalewski, B., Dau, T., and MacDonald, E.N. (2015). “Time-efficient multidimensional threshold tracking method,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 137, 2228-2228.

Franck B.A., van Kreveld-Bos C.S., Dreschler, W.A., and Verschuure, H. (1999). “Evaluation of spectral enhancement in hearing aids, combined with phonemic compression,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 106, 1452-1464.

Glasberg, B.R., Moore, B.C.J., and Bacon, S. (1987). “Gap detection and masking in hearing-impaired and normal-hearing subjects,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 81, 1546-1556.

Jepsen, M.L., Ewert, S., and Dau. T. (2008). “A computational model of human auditory signal processing and perception,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 124, 422-438.

Jepsen, M.L. and Dau, T. (2011). “Characterizing auditory processing and perception in individual listeners with sensorineural hearing loss,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 129, 262-281.

Lopez-Poveda, E.A. and Meddis, R. (2001). “A human nonlinear cochlear filterbank,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 110, 3107-3118.

Moore, B.C.J., Alcántara, J. I., and Dau. T. (1998). “Masking patterns for sinusoidal and narrow-band noise maskers,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 104, 1023-1038.

Moore, B.C.J., Peters, R.W., and Stone, M.A. (1999). “Benefits of linear amplify-cation and multichannel compression for speech comprehension in backgrounds with spectral and temporal dips,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 105, 400-411.

Nelson, D.A., Schroder, A.C., and Wojtczak, M. (2001). “A new procedure for measuring peripheral compression in normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 110, 2045-2064.

Panda, M.R., Lecluyse, W., Tan, C.M., Jürgens, T., and Meddis, R. (2014). “Hearing dummies: Individualized computer models of hearing impairment,” Int. J. Audiol., 53, 699-709.

Souza, P.E. and Bishop, R.D. (1999). “Improving speech audibility with wide dynamic range compression in listeners with severe sensorineural loss,” Ear Hearing, 20, 461-470.

Souza, P.E. and Turner, C.W. (1999). “Quantifying the contribution of audibility to recognition of compression-amplified speech,” Ear Hearing, 20, 12-20.

Stone, M.A., Moore, B.C.J., Alcántara, J.I., and Glasberg, B.R. (1999). “Comparison of different forms of compression using wearable digital hearing aids,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 106, 3603-3619.

Downloads

Published

2015-12-15

How to Cite

Kowalewski, B., MacDonald, E., Strelcyk, O., & Dau, T. (2015). Auditory-model based assessment of the effects of hearing loss and hearing-aid compression on spectral and temporal resolution. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Auditory and Audiological Research, 5, 173–180. Retrieved from https://proceedings.isaar.eu/index.php/isaarproc/article/view/2015-20

Issue

Vol. 5 (2015): Individual Hearing Loss - Characterization, modelling, compensation strategies

Section

2015/3. Modelling individual hearing impairment

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

a. Authors retain copyright* and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

b. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

c. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).

*From the 2017 issue onward. The Danavox Jubilee Foundation owns the copyright of all articles published in the 1969-2015 issues. However, authors are still allowed to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.