A bilateral hearing-aid algorithm that provides directional benefit while preserving situational awareness

Authors

  • Tobias Piechowiak GN ReSound A/S, Ballerup, Denmark
  • Rob de Vries GN ReSound, Dept. R&D, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
  • Chang Ma GN ReSound North America, Glenview, IL, USA
  • Andrew Dittberner GN ReSound North America, Glenview, IL, USA

Keywords:

Directional filtering, filter optimization

Abstract

A directional filter or beamformer is a classical approach to ensure speech intelligibility by suppressing distracting sounds from certain directions. However, they have some challenges on their own: (a) white-noise gain, (b) diminished benefit in reverberation, and (c) ‘off-axis’ audibility problems. In this study a new algorithm which is part of ReSound’s Linx3D’s Bilateral Directionality III is introduced. It is designed to provide good situational awareness (SA) while mainting directional benefit (DB). SA is maximized by combining the sensitivity of both left and right hearing aids to create a true binaural omnidirectional sensitivity pattern. DB is ensured by promoting the better-ear effect and thus allowing for better separation of sounds.

References

Bronkhorst, A.W., and Plomp, R. (1988). “The effect of head-induced interaural time and level differences on speech intelligibility in noise,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 83, 1508-1516.

Dittberner, A.B., and Bentler, R.A. (2007). “Predictive measures of directional benefit part 1: Estimating the directivity index on a manikin,” Ear Hearing, 28, 26-45.

Kochkin, S. (2010). “Why my hearing aid is in the drawer: The consumer’s perspective,” Hearing Journal.

Nielsen, J.B., and Dau, T. (2014). “A Danish open set speech corpus for competing speech studies,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 135, 407-420.

Ricketts, T.A., and Hornsby, B.W.Y.(2003). “Distance and reverberation effects on directional benefit,” Ear Hearing, 24, 472-484.

Wabnitz, A., Epain, N., Craig, J., and van Schaik, A. (2010). “Room acoustic simulation for multichannel microphone arrays,” Proc. Int. Symp. Room Acoustics, 1-6.
Adaptive processes in hearing

Additional Files

Published

2018-03-20

How to Cite

Piechowiak, T., de Vries, R., Ma, C., & Dittberner, A. (2018). A bilateral hearing-aid algorithm that provides directional benefit while preserving situational awareness. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Auditory and Audiological Research, 6, 159–166. Retrieved from https://proceedings.isaar.eu/index.php/isaarproc/article/view/2017-19

Issue

Vol. 6 (2017): Adaptive Processes in Hearing

Section

2017/3. Adaptive and learning processes with hearing devices

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