Adapting bilateral directional processing to individual and situational influences

Forfattere

  • Tobias Neher Medizinische Physik and Cluster of Excellence “Hearing4all”, Oldenburg University, Oldenburg, Germany; Institute of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
  • Kirsten C. Wagener Hörzentrum Oldenburg GmbH, Oldenburg, Germany
  • Matthias Latzel Phonak AG, Stäfa, Switzerland

Resumé

This study examined differences in benefit from bilateral directional processing. Groups of listeners with symmetric or asymmetric audiograms <2 kHz, a large spread in the binaural contribution to speech-in-noise reception (i.e., the binaural intelligibility level difference, BILD), and no difference in age or overall degree of hearing loss took part. Aided speech reception was measured using virtual acoustics together with a simulation of a linked pair of closed-fit behind-the-ear hearing aids. Five processing schemes and three acoustic scenarios were used. The processing schemes differed in the trade-off between signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) improvement and binaural cue preservation. The acoustic scenarios consisted of a frontal target talker and two lateral speech maskers or spatially diffuse noise. For both groups, a significant interaction between BILD, processing scheme and acoustic scenario was found. This interaction implied that, for lateral speech maskers, users with BILDs >2 dB profited more from low-frequency binaural cues than from greater SNR improvement, while for smaller BILDs the opposite was true. Audiometric asymmetry reduced the BILD influence. In spatially diffuse noise, the maximal SNR improvement was beneficial. Moreover, binaural tone-in-noise detection performance (N0Sp threshold) at 500 Hz predicted the benefit from low-frequency binaural cues effectively. These results provide a basis for adapting bilateral directional processing to the user and the scenario.

Referencer

Carroll, R., Meis, M., Schulte, M., et al. (2015). “Development of a German reading span test with dual task design for application in cognitive hearing research,” Int. J. Audiol., 54, 136-141. doi: 10.3109/14992027.2014.952458

Dillon, H. (2012). Hearing Aids, 2nd ed., Boomerang Press, Sydney, Australia.

Grimm, G., Herzke, T., Berg, D., and Hohmann, V. (2006). “The master hearing aid: A PC-based platform for algorithm development and evaluation,” Acta Acust. United Ac., 92, 618-628.

Holube, I., Fredelake, S., Vlaming, M., and Kollmeier, B. (2010). “Development and analysis of an International Speech Test Signal (ISTS),” Int. J. Audiol., 49, 891-903. doi: 10.3109/14992027.2010.506889.

Kayser, H., Ewert, S.D., Anemüller, J., et al. (2009). “Database of multichannel in-ear and behind-the-ear head-related and binaural room impulse responses,” EURASIP J. Adv. Signal Process., 298605, 1-10.

Kollmeier, B. (1996). “Computer-controlled speech audiometric techniques for the assessment of hearing loss and the evaluation of hearing aids,” In: Kollmeier, B. (Ed.), Psychoacoustics, Speech and Hearing Aids. World Scientific, Singapore, pp. 57-68.

Neher, T. (2017). “Characterizing the binaural contribution to speech-in-noise reception in elderly hearing-impaired listeners,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 141, EL159-EL163, doi: 10.1121/1.4976327.

Neher, T., Wagener, K.C., and Latzel, M. (2017). “Speech reception with different bilateral directional processing schemes: Influence of binaural hearing, audiometric asymmetry, and acoustic scenario,” Hear. Res., 353, 36-48. doi: 10.1016/j.heares.2017.07.014.

Santurette, S., and Dau, T. (2012). “Relating binaural pitch perception to the individual listener’s auditory profile,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 131, 2968-2986, doi: 10.1121/1.3689554.

Wagener, K., Brand, T., and Kollmeier, B. (1999). “Development and evaluation of a sentence test for the German language. I-III: Design, optimization and evaluation of the Oldenburg sentence test,” Z. Audiol. (Audiol. Acoustics), 38, 4-15, 44-56, 86-95.

Zimmermann, P., and Fimm, B. (2012). “Testbatterie zur Aufmerksamkeitsprüfung – Version Mobilität (Test battery for the assessment of attentional skills – Mobility version),” Psytest, Herzogenrath, Germany.

Yderligere filer

Publiceret

2017-12-11

Citation/Eksport

Neher, T., Wagener, K. C., & Latzel, M. (2017). Adapting bilateral directional processing to individual and situational influences. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Auditory and Audiological Research, 6, 151–158. Hentet fra https://proceedings.isaar.eu/index.php/isaarproc/article/view/2017-18

Nummer

Sektion

2017/3. Adaptive and learning processes with hearing devices