Hearing-aid settings in connection to supra-threshold auditory processing deficits

Forfattere

Nøgleord:

hearing aids, hearing loss, supra-threshold distortion, spectro-temporal modulations, speech intelligibility

Resumé

Plomp (1986) described the consequences of hearing impairment in speech communication as the sum of two components: attenuation and distortion. Recent studies have shown that the sensitivity to spectro-temporal modulations (STM) might be linked to speech intelligibility in noise, suggesting that supra-threshold, or “internal”, distortions would affect both speech and STM perception similarly. Furthermore, reduced sensitivity to STM may also affect a listener’s preference for a hearing aid (HA) compensation strategy. Here, speech intelligibility and STM sensitivity were measured in 20 hearing-impaired (HI) listeners. One group of the listeners (Group A) showed an inability to detect STM, whereas the other listeners (Group B) exhibited similar thresholds as the control group with young normal-hearing (NH) listeners. The two HI groups participated in a perceptual evaluation experiment using multi-stimulus comparisons (MUSHRA). The audio files were processed by a HA simulator fitted to the individual hearing loss and the performance was rated in terms of four attributes: clarity, comfort, preference and listening effort. A correlation analysis showed that clarity and preference were correlated in Group A whereas comfort and listening effort were correlated in Group B. The classification of HI listeners in auditory profiles might be valuable for efficient HA fitting.

Referencer

ANSI S3.5-1997 (1997), “Methods for the calculation of the speech intelligibility index,” New York: American National Standards Institute, 19, 90-119.
Bernstein, J. G., Danielsson, H., Ha ̈llgren, M., Stenfelt, S., Ro ̈nnberg, J., and Lunner, T. (2016). “Spectrotemporal modulation sensitivity as a predictor of speech-reception performance in noise with hearing aids,” Trends Hear., 20, 2331216516670387. doi: 10.1177/2331216516670387
Hougaard S, Ruf S. (2011) “EuroTrak I: A consumer survey about hearing aids in Germany, France and the UK,” Hearing Review, 18(2), 12-28.
Houtgast, T., and Festen, J. M. (2008). “On the auditory and cognitive functions that may explain an individual’s elevation of the speech reception threshold in noise,” Int. J. Audiol., 47(6), 287-295. doi: 10.1080/14992020802127109
Kowalski, N., Depireux, D. A., and Shamma, S. A. (1996). “Analysis of dynamic spectra in ferret primary auditory cortex. I. Characteristics of single-unit responses to moving ripple spectra,” J. Neurophysiol., 76(5), 3503-3523. doi: 10.1152/jn.1996.76.5.3503
Kuk, F. K., and Paludan-Mu ̈ller, C. (2006). “Noise-management algorithm may improve speech intelligibility in noise,” Hear. J., 59(4), 62. doi: 10.1097/01.HJ.0000286697.74328.32
Mehraei, G., Gallun, F. J., Leek, M. R., and Bernstein, J. G. (2014). “Spectrotemporal modulation sensitivity for hearing-impaired listeners: Dependence on carrier center frequency and the relationship to speech intelligibility,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 136(1), 301-316. doi: 10.1121/1.4881918
Nielsen, J. B., and Dau, T. (2011). “The Danish hearing in noise test,” Int. J. Audiolog., 50(3), 202-208. doi: 10.3109/14992027.2010.524254
ITU-R, Recommendation. “Bs. 1534-1. method for the subjective assessment of intermediate sound quality (mushra),” ITU, Geneva (2001).
Plomp, R. (1986). “A signal-to-noise ratio model for the speech-reception threshold of the hearing impaired,” J. Speech Lang. Hear. R., 29(2), 146-154. doi: 10.1044/jshr.2902.146
SenseLabOnline (v3.1.6), Listening test software, Hørsholm, Denmark: Delta, 2015. Soli, S. D., and Wong, L. L. (2008). “Assessment of speech intelligibility in noise with the Hearing in Noise Test,” Int. J. Audiol., 47(6), 356-361. doi: 10.1080/14992020801895136
Zaar, J., Simonsen, L. B., Bherens, T., Dau, T., and Laugesen, S. (2020) “Investigating the relationship between spectro-temporal modulation detection, aided speech perception, and directional noise reduction preference in hearing-impaired listeners,” Proc. ISAAR, 7, 181-188.

Yderligere filer

Publiceret

2020-04-20

Citation/Eksport

Sanchez-Lopez, R. H., Dau, T., & Jepsen, M. L. (2020). Hearing-aid settings in connection to supra-threshold auditory processing deficits. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Auditory and Audiological Research, 7, 221–228. Hentet fra https://proceedings.isaar.eu/index.php/isaarproc/article/view/2019-27

Nummer

Sektion

2019/4. Novel directions in hearing-instrument technology