Study finds real-world benefit from digital noise reduction

Powers, Thomas A.; Branda, Eric; Hernandez, August; Pool, Angela

doi:10.1097/01.hj.0000286526.09504.41

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Unfortunately, closed-fittings cause occlusion which can result in an altered own-voice perception. For this reason, the Own-Voice Processing technology in the Signia hearing aids was enabled (Powers, Froehlich, Branda, & Weber, 2018). The Own-Voice Processing feature was trained individually for each HI participant during the hearing-aid fitting procedure to detect the wearer's own voice based on spectral content and the direction of arrival, making it robust to changes in the speech, e.g., resulting from Lombard effects.…”

Section: Hearing-aid Fittingmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of Hearing-Aid Amplification and Noise on Conversational Dynamics Between Normal-Hearing and Hearing-Impaired Talkers

2022

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There is a long-standing tradition to assess hearing-aid benefits using lab-based speech intelligibility tests. Towards a more everyday-like scenario, the current study investigated the effects of hearing-aid amplification and noise on face-to-face communication between two conversational partners. Eleven pairs, consisting of a younger normal-hearing (NH) and an older hearing-impaired (HI) participant, solved spot-the-difference tasks while their conversations were recorded. In a two-block randomized design, the tasks were solved in quiet or noise, both with and without the HI participant receiving hearing-aid amplification with active occlusion cancellation. In the presence of 70 dB SPL babble noise, participants had fewer, slower, and less well-timed turn-starts, while speaking louder with longer inter-pausal units (IPUs, stretches of continuous speech surrounded by silence) and reducing their articulation rates. All these changes are indicative of increased communication effort. The timing of turn-starts by the HI participants exhibited more variability than that of their NH conversational partners. In the presence of background noise, the timing of turn-starts by the HI participants became even more variable, and their NH partners spoke louder. When the HI participants were provided with hearing-aid amplification, their timing of turn-starts became faster, they increased their articulation rate, and they produced shorter IPUs, all indicating reduced communication effort. In conclusion, measures of the conversational dynamics showed that background noise increased the communication effort, especially for the HI participants, and that providing hearing-aid amplification caused the HI participant to behave more like their NH conversational partner, especially in quiet situations.

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Section: Hearing-aid Fittingmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of Hearing-Aid Amplification and Noise on Conversational Dynamics Between Normal-Hearing and Hearing-Impaired Talkers

2022

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show abstract

“…Implementation of technologies such as directional microphones, compression and noise reduction algorithms in hearing aids have improved perception of amplified speech. In literature, the benefit from directional microphones, wide dynamic range compression, noise reduction (NR) algorithms in hearing aids are assessed using behavioral measures, such as speech tests in quiet and in the presence of noise, and by using subjective rating scales [1][2][3][4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%