Characteristics of Real-World Signal to Noise Ratios and Speech Listening Situations of Older Adults With Mild to Moderate Hearing Loss

Wu, Yu-Hsiang; Stangl, Elizabeth; Chipara, Octav; Hasan, S. S.; Welhaven, Anne; Oleson, Jacob

doi:10.1097/aud.0000000000000486

Cited by 141 publications

(121 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Perhaps more subtle acoustic cues, including temporal ones, other cognitive factors, and/or attention may be involved. Nonetheless, this observation is noteworthy because this SNR is similar to the realistic SNRs that hearing-impaired persons chose to encounter in real life (Smeds et al, 2015;Wu et al, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 66%

“…Although the traditional criterion for SRT is set at 50% correct, recent work on realistic SNRs suggests that listeners likely operate at a higher criterion level under realistic communication situations. Specifically, the recent work by Smeds et al (2015) and Wu et al (2018) showed that hearing-impaired listeners chose to communicate in environments where the SNR typically ranged between 10 and 15 dB. This corresponds to a repeat rate of 80-95% when examining Figure 6.…”

Section: Orca-rrt-derived Speech Reception Threshold (Srt)mentioning

confidence: 96%

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Evaluation of the Efficacy of a Dual Variable Speed Compressor over a Single Fixed Speed Compressor

Kuk¹,

Slugocki²,

Korhonen³

et al. 2019

J Am Acad Audiol

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It has been suggested that hearing-impaired listeners with a good working memory (WM) should be fitted with a compression system using short time constants (i.e., fast-acting compression [FAC]), whereas those with a poorer WM should be fitted with a longer time constant (i.e., slow-acting compression [SAC]). However, commercial hearing aids (HAs) seldom use a fixed speed of compression.The performance of a variable speed compression (VSC) system relative to a fixed speed compressor (FAC and SAC) on measures of speech intelligibility, recall, and subjective report of listening effort and tolerable time was evaluated. The potential interaction with the listeners’ WM capacity (WMC) was also examined.A double-blinded, repeated measures design.Seventeen HA wearers (16 with greater than one year HA experience) with a bilaterally symmetrical, mild to moderately severe sensorineural hearing loss participated in the study.Participants wore the study HAs at three compression speeds (FAC, SAC, and VSC). Each listener was evaluated on the Office of Research in Clinical Amplification-nonsense syllable test (NST) at 50 dB SPL (signal-to-noise ratio [SNR] = +15 dB), 65 dB SPL (SNR = +5 dB), 80 dB SPL (SNR = 0 dB), and a split (80 dB SPL–50 dB SPL) condition. Listeners were also evaluated on a Repeat Recall Test (RRT), where they had to repeat six short sentences (both high- and low-context sentences) after each was presented. Listeners recalled target words in all six sentences after they were presented. They also rated their listening effort and the amount of time they would tolerate listening under the specific condition. RRT sentences were presented at 75 dB SPL in quiet, as well as SNR = 0, 5, 10, and 15 dB. A Reading Span Test (RST) was also administered to assess listeners’ WMC. Analysis of variance using RST scores as a covariate was used to examine differences in listener performance among compressor speeds.Listener performance on the NST was similar among all three compression speeds at 50, 65, and 80 dB SPL. Performance with FAC was significantly better than SAC for the split condition; however, performance did not differ between FAC and VSC or between SAC and VSC. Performance on the NST was not affected by listeners’ RST scores. On the RRT, there was no effect of compressor speed on measures of repeat, recall, listening effort, and tolerable time. However, VSC resulted in significantly lower (better) speech reception threshold at the 85% correct recognition criterion (SRT85) than FAC and SAC. Listener RST scores significantly affected recall performance on the RRT but did not affect SRT85, repeat, listening effort, or tolerable time.These results suggest that the VSC, FAC, and SAC yield similar performance in most but not all test conditions. FAC outperforms SAC, where the stimulus levels change abruptly (i.e., split condition). The VSC yields a lower SRT85 than a fixed compression speed at a moderately high level with a favorable SNR. There is no interaction between compression speed and the participants’ WMC.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 66%

Section: Orca-rrt-derived Speech Reception Threshold (Srt)mentioning

confidence: 96%

Evaluation of the Efficacy of a Dual Variable Speed Compressor over a Single Fixed Speed Compressor

Kuk¹,

Slugocki²,

Korhonen³

et al. 2019

J Am Acad Audiol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The speech levels were individually adjusted to saturate the PP (but not the P3SP) and corresponded to sound pressure levels (SPLs) that can be experienced by people with hearing loss during a conversation in noise (Wagener et al 2008). Thus, listening effort was evaluated at SNRs and speech levels close to those that listeners with hearing loss are exposed to in noisy listening environments (Wagener et al 2008;Smeds et al 2015;Wu et al 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Benefit of Higher Maximum Force Output on Listening Effort in Bone-Anchored Hearing System Users: A Pupillometry Study

et al. 2019

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The aim of this study was to compare listening effort, as estimated via pupillary response, during a speech-in-noise test in boneanchored hearing system (BAHS) users wearing three different sound processors. The three processors, Ponto Pro (PP), Ponto 3 (P3), and Ponto 3 SuperPower (P3SP), differ in terms of maximum force output (MFO) and MFO algorithm. The hypothesis was that listeners would allocate lower listening effort with the P3SP than with the PP, as a consequence of a higher MFO and, hence, fewer saturation artifacts in the signal. Design: Pupil dilations were recorded in 21 BAHS users with a conductive or mixed hearing loss, during a speech-in-noise test performed at positive signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs), where the speech and noise levels were individually adjusted to lead to 95% correct intelligibility with the PP. The listeners had to listen to a sentence in noise, retain it for 3 seconds and then repeat it, while an eye-tracking camera recorded their pupil dilation. The three sound processors were tested in random order with a single-blinded experimental design. Two conditions were performed at the same SNR: Condition 1, where the speech level was designed to saturate the PP but not the P3SP, and condition 2, where the overall sound level was decreased relative to condition 1 to reduce saturation artifacts. Results: The P3SP led to higher speech intelligibility than the PP in both conditions, while the performance with the P3 did not differ from the performance with the PP and the P3SP. Pupil dilations were analyzed in terms of both peak pupil dilation (PPD) and overall pupil dilation via growth curve analysis (GCA). In condition 1, a significantly lower PPD, indicating a decrease in listening effort, was obtained with the P3SP relative to the PP. The PPD obtained with the P3 did not differ from the PPD obtained with the other two sound processors. In condition 2, no difference in PPD was observed across the three processors. The GCA revealed that the overall pupil dilation was significantly lower, in both conditions, with both the P3SP and the P3 relative to the PP, and, in condition 1, also with the P3SP relative to the P3. Conclusions: The overall effort to process a moderate to loud speech signal was significantly reduced by using a sound processor with a higher MFO (P3SP and P3), as a consequence of fewer saturation artifacts. These findings suggest that sound processors with a higher MFO may help BAHS users in their everyday listening scenarios, in particular in noisy environments, by improving sound quality and, thus, decreasing the amount of cognitive resources utilized to process incoming speech sounds.

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“…All noise types were summed with the clean speech signal at a long-term SNR of þ4 dB. We chose this SNR because we wanted to determine subjective preferences for an SNR that is representative for many real-life situations while speech is still intelligible (Wu et al 2018). For the modulated background noises this means that the SNR in the peaks and valleys of the noise fluctuated from þ0.5 to þ10 dB.…”

Section: Input Stimulimentioning

confidence: 99%

Subjective evaluation of single microphone noise reduction with different time constants

Reinten

Ronde-Brons

Houben³

et al. 2019

International Journal of Audiology

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Objective: Previous studies on single microphone noise reduction (NR) in hearing aids (HAs) have shown that some NR algorithms provide beneficial effects in terms of listener preference. To improve HA user satisfaction, we are interested in characteristics that determine preferences for NR, and in the interindividual variability. The aim of this study was to test if dynamic properties of NR influence listener preference. Design: The gain reduction at speech offsets of a NR algorithm was slowed down by applying temporal exponential smoothing. At speech onsets the gain recovery was left unchanged. Test signals consisted of speech in continuous and modulated speech-shaped background noise, processed with three time constants: 0, 100, and 200 ms. Study sample: 16 Normal hearing (NH) and 16 hearing impaired (HI) subjects participated in a pairedcomparison listening test. Results: NH subjects as a group had a significant preference for NR with time constants of 100, or 200 ms (slower acting NR). HI listeners as a group preferred NR over no NR, but had no clear preference for fast or slow NR. Patterns of preference differed between individual listeners. Conclusions: NR dynamics had an impact on individual listener preference and should be considered when optimising HAs.

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Characteristics of Real-World Signal to Noise Ratios and Speech Listening Situations of Older Adults With Mild to Moderate Hearing Loss

Cited by 141 publications

References 41 publications

Evaluation of the Efficacy of a Dual Variable Speed Compressor over a Single Fixed Speed Compressor

Evaluation of the Efficacy of a Dual Variable Speed Compressor over a Single Fixed Speed Compressor

Benefit of Higher Maximum Force Output on Listening Effort in Bone-Anchored Hearing System Users: A Pupillometry Study

Subjective evaluation of single microphone noise reduction with different time constants

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