Profiling hearing-aid sound

Authors

  • Morten L. Jepsen Audiological Research and Innovation, Widex A/S, Lynge, Denmark
  • Christian Norup Audiological Research and Innovation, Widex A/S, Lynge, Denmark

Abstract

Assessment of audio quality has a strong tradition within concert hall acoustics, music reproduction and telecommunication, and some of the associated methods have recently been applied to hearing aid sound (Simonsen and Legarth, 2010). Many assessment methods have been developed and evaluated, and one of the most valuable methods is the use of assessment panels consisting of trained listeners (e.g., Legarth et al., 2012). Considerations about sound quality are an integral part of hearing-aid development as hearing-aid gain strategies and processing modify the sound by applying, e.g., frequency-dependent gain and dynamic-range com-pression, in order to compensate for consequences of hearing impairment. Hearing-aid manufacturers use different processing principles and different signal-processing technology to obtain this compensation. In the present study, the aim was to obtain the sound-attribute profile for Widex devices and compare this to profiles of devices from other manufacturers, as well as an earlier Widex device. The listening panel comprised listeners with hearing impairment and was provided by DELTA SenseLab. The sound preference of the listening panel was also measured in a variety of acoustic scenarios focusing on speech and music conditions. It was found that the sound profiles of the different manufacturer devices were different and that this may be explained by differences in processing principles and technology.

References

Gabrielsson, A., and Sjögren, H. (1979), “Perceived sound quality of sound-reproducing systems,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 65, 1019-1033.

Legarth, S., Simonsen, C.S., Dyrlund, O., Bramsløw, L., and Jespersen, C.T. (2012). “Establishing and qualifying a hearing impaired expert listener panel,” Poster at the International Hearing Aid Research Conference.

Simonsen, C.S., and Legarth, S.V. (2010). “A procedure for sound quality evaluation of hearing aids,” Hearing Review, 17, 32-37.

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Published

2013-12-15

How to Cite

Jepsen, M. L., & Norup, C. (2013). Profiling hearing-aid sound. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Auditory and Audiological Research, 4, 303–308. Retrieved from https://proceedings.isaar.eu/index.php/isaarproc/article/view/2013-33

Issue

Vol. 4 (2013): Auditory Plasticity - Listening with the Brain

Section

2013/5. Design and evaluation of hearing-aid signal processing

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