Effect of a processing delay between direct and delayed sound in simulated open fit hearing aids on speech intelligibility in noise
IntroductionSubjects with mild to moderate hearing loss today often receive hearing aids (HA) with open-fitting (OF). In OF, direct sound reaches the eardrums with minimal damping. Due to the required processing delay in digital HA, the amplified HA sound follows some milliseconds later. This proces...
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2024-01-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Neuroscience |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnins.2023.1257720/full |
| _version_ | 1797361799421493248 |
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| author | Sebastian Roth Sebastian Roth Franz-Ullrich Müller Franz-Ullrich Müller Julian Angermeier Werner Hemmert Stefan Zirn |
| author_facet | Sebastian Roth Sebastian Roth Franz-Ullrich Müller Franz-Ullrich Müller Julian Angermeier Werner Hemmert Stefan Zirn |
| author_sort | Sebastian Roth |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | IntroductionSubjects with mild to moderate hearing loss today often receive hearing aids (HA) with open-fitting (OF). In OF, direct sound reaches the eardrums with minimal damping. Due to the required processing delay in digital HA, the amplified HA sound follows some milliseconds later. This process occurs in both ears symmetrically in bilateral HA provision and is likely to have no or minor detrimental effect on binaural hearing. However, the delayed and amplified sound are only present in one ear in cases of unilateral hearing loss provided with one HA. This processing alters interaural timing differences in the resulting ear signals.MethodsIn the present study, an experiment with normal-hearing subjects to investigate speech intelligibility in noise with direct and delayed sound was performed to mimic unilateral and bilateral HA provision with OF.ResultsThe outcomes reveal that these delays affect speech reception thresholds (SRT) in the unilateral OF simulation when presenting speech and noise from different spatial directions. A significant decrease in the median SRT from –18.1 to –14.7 dB SNR is observed when typical HA processing delays are applied. On the other hand, SRT was independent of the delay between direct and delayed sound in the bilateral OF simulation.DiscussionThe significant effect emphasizes the development of rapid processing algorithms for unilateral HA provision. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T15:58:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6d425f37fe1c42ed8ba9a4799e7561e0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1662-453X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T15:58:34Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj.art-6d425f37fe1c42ed8ba9a4799e7561e02024-01-08T12:38:12ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Neuroscience1662-453X2024-01-011710.3389/fnins.2023.12577201257720Effect of a processing delay between direct and delayed sound in simulated open fit hearing aids on speech intelligibility in noiseSebastian Roth0Sebastian Roth1Franz-Ullrich Müller2Franz-Ullrich Müller3Julian Angermeier4Werner Hemmert5Stefan Zirn6Department of Electrical Engineering, Medical Engineering and Computer Science, Peter Osypka Institute of Medical Engineering, Offenburg University of Applied Sciences, Offenburg, GermanyDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Munich Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Technical University of Munich, Munich, GermanyDepartment of Electrical Engineering, Medical Engineering and Computer Science, Peter Osypka Institute of Medical Engineering, Offenburg University of Applied Sciences, Offenburg, GermanyDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Munich Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Technical University of Munich, Munich, GermanyDepartment of Electrical Engineering, Medical Engineering and Computer Science, Peter Osypka Institute of Medical Engineering, Offenburg University of Applied Sciences, Offenburg, GermanyDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Munich Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Technical University of Munich, Munich, GermanyDepartment of Electrical Engineering, Medical Engineering and Computer Science, Peter Osypka Institute of Medical Engineering, Offenburg University of Applied Sciences, Offenburg, GermanyIntroductionSubjects with mild to moderate hearing loss today often receive hearing aids (HA) with open-fitting (OF). In OF, direct sound reaches the eardrums with minimal damping. Due to the required processing delay in digital HA, the amplified HA sound follows some milliseconds later. This process occurs in both ears symmetrically in bilateral HA provision and is likely to have no or minor detrimental effect on binaural hearing. However, the delayed and amplified sound are only present in one ear in cases of unilateral hearing loss provided with one HA. This processing alters interaural timing differences in the resulting ear signals.MethodsIn the present study, an experiment with normal-hearing subjects to investigate speech intelligibility in noise with direct and delayed sound was performed to mimic unilateral and bilateral HA provision with OF.ResultsThe outcomes reveal that these delays affect speech reception thresholds (SRT) in the unilateral OF simulation when presenting speech and noise from different spatial directions. A significant decrease in the median SRT from –18.1 to –14.7 dB SNR is observed when typical HA processing delays are applied. On the other hand, SRT was independent of the delay between direct and delayed sound in the bilateral OF simulation.DiscussionThe significant effect emphasizes the development of rapid processing algorithms for unilateral HA provision.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnins.2023.1257720/fullbinaural hearingspeech in noiseopen fittingunilateral hearing lossspeech intelligibility model |
| spellingShingle | Sebastian Roth Sebastian Roth Franz-Ullrich Müller Franz-Ullrich Müller Julian Angermeier Werner Hemmert Stefan Zirn Effect of a processing delay between direct and delayed sound in simulated open fit hearing aids on speech intelligibility in noise Frontiers in Neuroscience binaural hearing speech in noise open fitting unilateral hearing loss speech intelligibility model |
| title | Effect of a processing delay between direct and delayed sound in simulated open fit hearing aids on speech intelligibility in noise |
| title_full | Effect of a processing delay between direct and delayed sound in simulated open fit hearing aids on speech intelligibility in noise |
| title_fullStr | Effect of a processing delay between direct and delayed sound in simulated open fit hearing aids on speech intelligibility in noise |
| title_full_unstemmed | Effect of a processing delay between direct and delayed sound in simulated open fit hearing aids on speech intelligibility in noise |
| title_short | Effect of a processing delay between direct and delayed sound in simulated open fit hearing aids on speech intelligibility in noise |
| title_sort | effect of a processing delay between direct and delayed sound in simulated open fit hearing aids on speech intelligibility in noise |
| topic | binaural hearing speech in noise open fitting unilateral hearing loss speech intelligibility model |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnins.2023.1257720/full |
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