A Contemporary Review of Hearing Aids

Palmer, Catherine V.

doi:10.1002/lary.20690

Cited by 15 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 19 publications

(17 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Our engineering goal was to develop a real-time algorithm inspired by the biology that could potentially be used in clinical applications such as hearing aids and cochlear implants or in commercial applications involving automatic speech recognition [31]. In hearing aids, various forms of noise reduction have been shown to offer an incremental improvement in the listening experience [32], [33] though listening to speech in noisy environments remains the principal complaint of hearing aid users [34]. In addition, none of the current noise reduction algorithms have led to improvements in speech intelligibility [35], [36].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Noise-invariant Neurons in the Avian Auditory Cortex: Hearing the Song in Noise

2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Given the extraordinary ability of humans and animals to recognize communication signals over a background of noise, describing noise invariant neural responses is critical not only to pinpoint the brain regions that are mediating our robust perceptions but also to understand the neural computations that are performing these tasks and the underlying circuitry. Although invariant neural responses, such as rotation-invariant face cells, are well described in the visual system, high-level auditory neurons that can represent the same behaviorally relevant signal in a range of listening conditions have yet to be discovered. Here we found neurons in a secondary area of the avian auditory cortex that exhibit noise-invariant responses in the sense that they responded with similar spike patterns to song stimuli presented in silence and over a background of naturalistic noise. By characterizing the neurons' tuning in terms of their responses to modulations in the temporal and spectral envelope of the sound, we then show that noise invariance is partly achieved by selectively responding to long sounds with sharp spectral structure. Finally, to demonstrate that such computations could explain noise invariance, we designed a biologically inspired noise-filtering algorithm that can be used to separate song or speech from noise. This novel noise-filtering method performs as well as other state-of-the-art de-noising algorithms and could be used in clinical or consumer oriented applications. Our biologically inspired model also shows how high-level noise-invariant responses could be created from neural responses typically found in primary auditory cortex.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Noise-invariant Neurons in the Avian Auditory Cortex: Hearing the Song in Noise

2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Pain, irritation, keratin and moisture build up may occur [6]. In addition, various shapes and curvature of the bony canal may limit deep insertion of the devices [24].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Patient satisfaction with air conduction hearing aids has remained low due to lifestyle restrictions, sound distortion, occlusion effect, and feedback issues [5, 6]. A common solution for the occlusion effect is to add a vent to the ear mold to allow the sounds trapped in the ear canal to escape [7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The vent, however, reduces the attenuation from the speaker to the microphone and increases the likelihood of feedback [8]. The feedback is overcome by increasing the separation between the microphone and speaker, usually by increasing the size of the hearing aid (in order of increasing size and visibility) [6]. However, patients generally do not desire to wear larger hearing aids due to their appearance and attached stigma.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Investigation of a Novel Completely-in-the-Canal Direct-Drive Hearing Device

Mahboubi¹,

Paulick²,

Kiumehr³

et al. 2013

Otology &Amp; Neurotology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Hypothesis Whether a prototype direct-drive hearing device (DHD) is effective in driving the tympanic membrane (TM) in a temporal bone specimen to enable it to potentially treat moderate to severe hearing loss. Background Patient satisfaction with air conduction hearing aids has been low due to sound distortion, occlusion effect, and feedback issues. Implantable hearing aids provide a higher quality sound, but require surgery for placement. The DHD was designed to combine the ability of driving the ossicular chain with placement in the external auditory canal. Methods DHD is a 3.5 mm wide device that could fit entirely into the bony ear canal and directly drive the TM rather than use a speaker. A cadaveric temporal bone was prepared. The device developed in our laboratory was coupled to the external surface of the TM and against the malleus. Frequency sweeps between 300 Hz to 12 kHz were performed in two different coupling methods at 104 and 120 dB, and the DHD was driven with various levels of current. Displacements of the posterior crus of the stapes were measured using a Laser Doppler Vibrometer. Results The DHD showed a linear frequency response from 300Hz to 12kHz. Placement against the malleus showed higher amplitudes and lower power requirements than when the device was placed on the TM. Conclusions DHD is a small completely-in-the-canal device that mechanically drives the TM. This novel device has a frequency output wider than most air conduction devices. Findings of the current study demonstrated that the DHD had the potential of being incorporated into a hearing aid in the future.

show abstract

“…For example, noise reduction is used in automatic voice recognition algorithms used in consumer products [1] as well as in medical devices such as hearing aids or cochlear implants. In hearing aids, various forms of noise reduction have been shown to offer an incremental improvement in the listening experience [2,3] though listening to speech in noisy environments remains the principal complaint of hearing aid users [4]. In addition, none of the current noise reduction algorithms have led to improvements in speech intelligibility [5,6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A novel noise-reduction algorithm for real-time speech processing

Theunissen

Lee

2013

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We developed a new noise-reduction algorithm based on a joint spectro-temporal representation of signals. The algorithm was inspired by the discovery in our laboratory of higher-level avian auditory cortical neurons that showed invariant responses to communication signals. The algorithm consists of an analysis step and a synthesis step. In the analysis step, the sound is first decomposed into narrow band signals by a frequency filter bank. These time-frequency waveforms are then further analyzed using a spectro-temporal modulation filter bank to obtain a representation that is akin to the one generated by cortical neurons. In our algorithm, this modulation filter bank was obtained from the principal component analysis of the speech signal in the time-frequency representation. We then learned which subset of the modulation filters provided the best information to extract the signal from the noise. In the synthesis step, we then used this subset of spectral-temporal modulation feature detectors to generate a set of time-varying frequency gains that could be applied directly to the original time frequency decomposition. In this manner, we were able to perform noise reduction in real time and with minimal delay. Our algorithm yielded similar noise reduction but better quality speech quality than current state-of-the-art algorithms.

show abstract

A Contemporary Review of Hearing Aids

Cited by 15 publications

References 19 publications

Noise-invariant Neurons in the Avian Auditory Cortex: Hearing the Song in Noise

Noise-invariant Neurons in the Avian Auditory Cortex: Hearing the Song in Noise

Investigation of a Novel Completely-in-the-Canal Direct-Drive Hearing Device

A novel noise-reduction algorithm for real-time speech processing

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About