ORCID Profile
0000-0003-0111-1899
Current Organisations
Virginia Tech
,
University of Minnesota
,
National Acoustic Laboratories
,
University of Michigan
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Publisher: Georg Thieme Verlag KG
Date: 02-2020
Abstract: Hearing health care is rapidly changing through innovation in technology, services, business models, and product categories. The introduction of hearables and over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids in particular will change the market for hearing help and the role of the hearing care professionals (HCPs). This article focuses on how these products will be differentiated from HCP-fit hearing aids through their ability to address the unmet needs of different consumer segments within the population of people with hearing dysfunction. The unmet hearing needs of each segment are discussed, and the size of each segment estimated, demonstrating a large potential market for hearables and a smaller potential market for hearing aids than has been previously mentioned in the literature. The results from MarkeTrak 10's survey of consumers' attitudes toward an OTC model are reviewed, showing that approximately half of both hearing aid owners and nonowners are uncomfortable doing hearing- and hearing aid–related tasks on their own without the assistance of an HCP and would be unlikely to purchase OTC hearing aids if available today. MarkeTrak data are also shown that demonstrate that the majority of hearing aid and personal sound lification product owners believe that the HCP helped or would have helped with their hearing devices. Finally, challenges to OTC hearing aids becoming successful are discussed.
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Date: 2011
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 27-04-2023
Publisher: Acoustical Society of America (ASA)
Date: 04-2015
DOI: 10.1121/1.4916599
Abstract: This study investigated whether spatial separation between talkers helps reduce cognitive processing load, and how hearing impairment interacts with the cognitive load of in iduals listening in multi-talker environments. A dual-task paradigm was used in which performance on a secondary task (visual tracking) served as a measure of the cognitive load imposed by a speech recognition task. Visual tracking performance was measured under four conditions in which the target and the interferers were distinguished by (1) gender and spatial location, (2) gender only, (3) spatial location only, and (4) neither gender nor spatial location. Results showed that when gender cues were available, a 15° spatial separation between talkers reduced the cognitive load of listening even though it did not provide further improvement in speech recognition (Experiment I). Compared to normal-hearing listeners, large in idual variability in spatial release of cognitive load was observed among hearing-impaired listeners. Cognitive load was lower when talkers were spatially separated by 60° than when talkers were of different genders, even though speech recognition was comparable in these two conditions (Experiment II). These results suggest that a measure of cognitive load might provide valuable insight into the benefit of spatial cues in multi-talker environments.
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 07-2016
DOI: 10.1097/AUD.0000000000000312
Abstract: The Fifth Eriksholm Workshop on “Hearing Impairment and Cognitive Energy” was convened to develop a consensus among interdisciplinary experts about what is known on the topic, gaps in knowledge, the use of terminology, priorities for future research, and implications for practice. The general term cognitive energy was chosen to facilitate the broadest possible discussion of the topic. It goes back to Titchener (1908) who described the effects of attention on perception he used the term psychic energy for the notion that limited mental resources can be flexibly allocated among perceptual and mental activities. The workshop focused on three main areas: (1) theories, models, concepts, definitions, and frameworks (2) methods and measures and (3) knowledge translation. We defined effort as the deliberate allocation of mental resources to overcome obstacles in goal pursuit when carrying out a task , with listening effort applying more specifically when tasks involve listening. We adapted Kahneman’s seminal (1973) Capacity Model of Attention to listening and proposed a heuristically useful Framework for Understanding Effortful Listening (FUEL). Our FUEL incorporates the well-known relationship between cognitive demand and the supply of cognitive capacity that is the foundation of cognitive theories of attention. Our FUEL also incorporates a motivation dimension based on complementary theories of motivational intensity, adaptive gain control, and optimal performance, fatigue, and pleasure. Using a three-dimensional illustration, we highlight how listening effort depends not only on hearing difficulties and task demands but also on the listener’s motivation to expend mental effort in the challenging situations of everyday life.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 2010
DOI: 10.3109/14992020903518128
Abstract: This study compared the noise reduction of adaptive null-steering and near-hypercardioid directional hearing-aid algorithms via performance on real-world signals. Using subject-in idualized and generic (i.e. similar to current hearing aids), off-line frequency-domain implementations, we processed recordings made through two microphones of a BTE device worn by five subjects. Recording scenarios included homes, offices, cafés, streets, buses, and automobiles. We found practically all (> 95% of recording time) adaptive noise-reduction benefit for generic implementations is below 1.2 dB, and 96% and 92% is below 2 dB for 16-and 32-band in idualized implementations, respectively. A 256-band, in idualized implementation showed a majority of benefit between 1-4 dB. We found no extended (> 2 s) continuous periods of significant (> 2 dB) benefit for the generic adaptive implementations. The recordings-having many independent and simultaneously active sources, spatially extended sources, significant reverberation, or combinations thereof-indicate an environment comprising few instances of high direct-to-diffuse energy situations. Combined with results from previous field trials, the evidence suggests that such an environment is common and represents a significant limitation on adaptive benefit.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 12-1990
DOI: 10.1007/BF02331344
Publisher: Acoustical Society of America (ASA)
Date: 04-1994
DOI: 10.1121/1.408680
Abstract: In an attempt to study the processing of litude and frequency modulation (AM and FM), detection and discrimination tasks using mixed modulation (MM) signals were performed. Modulation detection thresholds were obtained for three-component signals that span the parameter space between AM and quasi-FM. A single-cue modulation detection model predicts the thresholds with reasonable accuracy. If one assumes that the AM and FM components are extracted separately, thresholds are also well predicted if the d′ of the MM signals is equal to the sum of the separate d′s of the AM and FM components (two-cue summation model). This could arise from common internal noise that puts the AM and FM information along a single decision axis. A modulation discrimination task was then examined in which the subjects discriminate between signals with both different modulation depths and different modulation types. The single-cue model predicts performance well. In order for the two-cue model to predict the results, the AM and FM cues must be combined into a single statistic before a decision can be made the listener cannot process the cues separately.
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 03-2014
Publisher: ASA
Date: 2013
DOI: 10.1121/1.4800183
Publisher: Acoustical Society of America (ASA)
Date: 03-2014
DOI: 10.1121/1.4864786
Abstract: There exist perceptible differences between sound emanating from a talker who faces and a talker who does not face a listener: Sound from a non-facing talker is attenuated and acquires a spectral tilt. The present study assessed the role that these facing-orientation cues play for speech perception. Digit identification for a frontal target talker in the presence of two spatially separated interfering talkers was measured for 10 normal-hearing (NH) and 11 hearing-impaired (HI) listeners. Overall-level differences and spectral tilts were reproduced by means of digital filtering and playback via loudspeakers. Both NH and HI listeners performed significantly better when the interfering talkers were simulated not to be facing them. Spectral tilts and level differences across talkers reduced target-interferer confusions. They enabled the NH listeners to sequentially stream the digits. This was not the case for the HI listeners, who showed smaller benefits, irrespective of whether they were aided by their own hearing aids or not. While hearing-aid lification increased audibility, it may not have aided target-interferer segregation or target selection. The present results suggest that facing orientation cannot be neglected in the exploration of speech perception in multitalker situations.
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 19-01-2022
DOI: 10.1101/2022.01.14.472488
Abstract: Presbycusis, or age-related hearing loss, is the most common sensory deficit globally, and the biggest modifiable risk factor for a later dementia diagnosis. Despite its ubiquity, however, the primary pathology contributing to presbycusis is reportedly contentious, particularly the relative role of damage to the sensory outer hair cells compared to the stria vascularis, an important inner ear structure that maintains the ionic concentration of inner ear fluids that surround it. To determine what might be the “dogma” of the field regarding the primary pathology in presbycusis, we conducted an online Google survey ( forms.gle/GPreoePmRxBBkchc7 ) asking relevant respondents in the field their opinions on the matter. In Question (Q1), respondents were asked to rate ‘ in your opinion ’ from ‘least likely’ to ‘most likely’ (on a scale 1 to 4 [being ‘most likely’]) ‘ what is the primary pathology contributing to presbycusis? ’ in terms of ‘ damage to ’: i) the inner hair cells, ii) outer hair cells (OHCs), iii) spiral ganglion, iv) stria vascularis. The term ‘dogma’ suggests that the proportion of people in the field who believe that the main cause of presbycusis is damage to the stria vascularis is at least 50%. The results of our survey estimated this proportion to be 19/101 = 0.188 (95% CI [0.124 0.275]) and a two-sided test of the null hypothesis that this proportion is at least 0.5 was rejected ( p 10 −10 ). When it came to opining what ‘ other professionals in the field consider to be the primary pathology contributing to presbycusis ’ (Q2), the tendency to rank ‘damage to OHCs’ as being the primary pathology was 45%. S tria vascularis was least likely to be ranked 4 (11%) by professionals in the field opining about the beliefs of others. Even when ‘noise damage was excluded’ as a factor (Q3), the ‘most likely’ contributing factor to presbycusis was stated to be damage to the OHCs (42%). Our data suggest the dogma of the field is that damage to outer hair cells is the primary pathology in presbycusis.
Publisher: Acoustical Society of America (ASA)
Date: 06-2009
DOI: 10.1121/1.3125329
Abstract: An interrupted signal may be perceptually restored and, as a result, perceived as continuous, when the interruptions are filled with loud noise bursts. Additionally, when the signal is speech, an improvement in intelligibility may be observed. The perceived continuity of interrupted tones is reduced when the signal level is r ed down and up before and after the noise burst, respectively—an effect that has been attributed to envelope discontinuities at the tone-noise interface [Bregman, A. S., and Dannenbring, G. L. (1977). Can. J. Psychiatry 31, 151–159]. The hypothesis of the present study was that the perceptual restoration of speech would also be reduced with similar envelope discontinuities that may occur in real life due to the release time constants of hearing-aid compression. In an effort to make the conditions more relevant to hearing aids, speech was litude-compressed and normal-hearing listeners of varying ages were recruited. Envelope litude r s were placed at the onsets/offsets of speech segments of interrupted sentences and the restoration effect was measured in two ways: objectively as the improvement in intelligibility when noise was added in the gaps and subjectively through the perceived continuity measured by subjects’ own reporting. Both measures showed a reduction as the r duration increased—a trend observed for subjects of all ages and for all r configurations. These findings can be attributed to envelope discontinuities, with an additional contribution from reduced speech information due to r ing and temporal masking from loud noise bursts.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 03-2007
Abstract: Hearing aids have advanced significantly over the past decade, primarily due to the maturing of digital technology. The next decade should see an even greater number of innovations to hearing aid technology, and this article attempts to predict in which areas the new developments will occur. Both incremental and radical innovations in digital hearing aids will be driven by research advances in the following fields: (1) wireless technology, (2) digital chip technology, (3) hearing science, and (4) cognitive science. The opportunities and limitations for each of these areas will be discussed. Additionally, emerging trends such as connectivity and in idualization will also drive new technology, and these are discussed within the context of the areas given here.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-1992
DOI: 10.1016/0165-0270(92)90038-F
Abstract: Modern technology is allowing researchers to collect data from neural ensembles with a large number of units, and the analysis of interaction between these units can be very time consuming. Estimation of pairwise connectivity is the most common method of determining the neural 'network' but usually necessitates the production of numerous histograms for each pair considered. We present a method which will indicate which pairs in a network represent potential connections and thereby simplify the postexperimental analysis. The technique uses cross-interval information to create an n x n matrix which represents all possible connections in an n neuron ensemble and can be calculated recursively on-line. The performance of this technique is analyzed with respect to data size and strength of the connections. It is compared to 2 similar techniques that are also presented here, one in which perfect knowledge of the timing of the excitation is known, and one in which the timing can be bounded.
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 12-2008
Publisher: Acoustical Society of America (ASA)
Date: 09-05-2007
DOI: 10.1121/1.2731017
Abstract: The genetic algorithm (GA) was previously suggested for fitting hearing aid or cochlear implant features by using listener’s subjective judgment. In the present study, two human factors that might affect the outcome of the GA when used for perceptual optimization were explored with simulations. Listeners with varying sensitivity in discriminating sentences of different intelligibility and with varying error rates in entering their judgment to the GA were simulated. A comparison of the simulation results with the results from human subjects reported by Başkent et al. Ear Hear. 28(3) 277–289 (2007) showed that these factors could reduce the performance of the GA considerably.
Publisher: Acoustical Society of America (ASA)
Date: 08-1994
DOI: 10.1121/1.411440
Abstract: The encoding mechanisms for litude modulation (AM) and frequency modulation (FM) were investigated using AM–FM discrimination tasks. In the first experiment, AM and FM were set at equally detectable levels within a trial, and discrimination thresholds were obtained adaptively in a 3IFC task. Here, AM–FM discrimination thresholds were considerably larger than both AM and FM detection thresholds. This is consistent with an encoding system whereby AM and FM are partially encoded by the same mechanism. In the second experiment, performance on AM–FM discrimination is measured with a fixed-level procedure. Psychometric functions obtained for a constant modulation depth of AM were nonmonotonic with FMs modulation index β and each displayed a single minimum. The nonmonotonic nature of the functions is consistent with a model in which FM is encoded primarily with the same mechanism that encodes AM but also with a second mechanism, probably related to changes in instantaneous frequency, that is independent of the mechanism that extracts AM. The fact that minima in the discrimination psychometric functions increase from d′=0 as β increases indicates that the information encoded by the second mechanism becomes more detectable with increasing β.
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 17-04-2013
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 07-2016
DOI: 10.1097/AUD.0000000000000308
Abstract: Hearing loss and cognitive function interact in both a bottom-up and top-down relationship. Listening effort is tied to these interactions, and models have been developed to explain their relationship. The Ease of Language Understanding model in particular has gained considerable attention in its explanation of the effect of signal distortion on speech understanding. Signal distortion can also affect auditory scene analysis ability, however, resulting in a distorted auditory scene that can affect cognitive function, listening effort, and the allocation of cognitive resources. These effects are explained through an addition to the Ease of Language Understanding model. This model can be generalized to apply to all sounds, not only speech, representing the increased effort required for auditory environmental awareness and other nonspeech auditory tasks. While the authors have measures of speech understanding and cognitive load to quantify these interactions, they are lacking measures of the effect of hearing aid technology on auditory scene analysis ability and how effort and attention varies with the quality of an auditory scene. Additionally, the clinical relevance of hearing aid technology on cognitive function and the application of cognitive measures in hearing aid fittings will be limited until effectiveness is demonstrated in real-world situations.
Publisher: IEEE
Date: 2001
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 20-09-2017
Publisher: Georg Thieme Verlag KG
Date: 06-2014
DOI: 10.3766/JAAA.25.6.10
Abstract: Background/Purpose: The acceptable noise level (ANL) test is the only test that is known to predict success with hearing aids with a high degree of accuracy. A person’s ANL is the maximal amount of background noise that he or she is “willing to put up with” while listening to running speech. It is defined as the speech level minus the noise level, in decibels (dB). People who are willing to put up with high levels of background noise are generally successful hearing-aid wearers, whereas people who are not willing to put up with high levels of background noise are generally unsuccessful hearing-aid wearers. If it were known what cues that listeners are using to decide how much background noise they are willing to tolerate, then it might be possible to create technology that reduces these cues and improves listeners’ chances of success with hearing aids. As a first step toward this goal, this study investigated whether listeners are using loudness as a cue to determine their ANLs. Research Design and Study S le: Twenty-one in iduals with normal hearing and 21 in iduals with sensorineural hearing loss participated in this study. In each group of 21 participants, 7 had a low ANL ( dB), 7 had a mid ANL (7–13 dB), and 7 had a high ANL ( dB). Data Collection/Analysis: Participants performed a modified version of the ANL in which the speech was fixed at four different levels (50, 63, 75 and 88 dBA), and participants adjusted the background noise (multitalker babble) to the maximal level at which they were willing to listen while following the speech. These results were compared with participants’ equal-loudness contours for the multitalker babble in the presence of speech. Equal-loudness contours were measured by having the participants perform a loudness-matching task in which they matched the level of the background noise (multitalker babble), played concurrently with speech, to a reference condition (also multitalker babble). During the test condition, the speech played at 50, 63, 75, or 88 dBA. All testing was performed in a sound booth with the speech and the noise presented from a loudspeaker at a 0° azimuth, 3 feet in front of the participant. Each condition was presented multiple times, and the results were averaged. Presentation order was randomized. Participants were tested unaided. Results: Participants' ANLs were compared with their equal-loudness contours for the background noise. ANLs that ran parallel to the equal-loudness contours were considered consistent with a loudness-based listening strategy. This pattern was observed for only two participants – both hearing-impaired. Conclusions: The majority of listeners showed no consistent trend between their ANLs and their loudness-matched data, suggesting that they are using cues other than loudness to determine their ANLs. ANLs were consistent with loudness-matched data for a small subset of listeners, suggesting that they may be using loudness as a cue for determining their ANLs.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 02-06-2010
DOI: 10.3109/14992027.2010.484827
Abstract: Three-dimensional sound localization of speech in anechoic space was examined for eleven listeners with sensorineural hearing loss. The listeners were fitted bilaterally with CIC and BTE hearing aids having similar bandwidth capabilities. The goal was to determine whether differences in microphone placement for these two styles (CICs at the ear canal entrance BTEs above the pinna) would influence the availability of pinna-related spectral cues and hence localization performance. While lateral and polar angle localization was unaffected by the hearing aid style, the rate of front-back reversals was lower with CICs. This pattern persisted after listeners accommodated to each set of aids for a six week period, although the overall rate of reversals declined. Performance on all measures in all conditions was considerably poorer than in a control group of listeners with normal hearing.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 23-03-2018
Publisher: Acoustical Society of America (ASA)
Date: 03-1994
DOI: 10.1121/1.408538
Abstract: Frequency modulation (FM) is known to be reasonably approximated by quasi-frequency modulation (QFM) for small modulation indices, β, but the range of β for which this approximation is appropriate is unclear. Thresholds for discrimination between FM and QFM with equal β’s are obtained in order to estimate an upper bound on β for determining when this approximation is valid psychoacoustically, i.e., when FM and QFM are indiscriminable. At low modulation frequencies (fm≤4 Hz), QFM is never a valid approximation to FM at any detectable modulation level since discrimination thresholds are below FM detection thresholds. For modulation frequencies between 8 and 32 Hz, discrimination thresholds are approximately −2.5 dB (20 log β) and can be accounted for by detection of envelope fluctuations in the QFM signal. For modulation frequencies at 64 Hz and above, discrimination thresholds improve with increasing modulation frequency in the same manner as FM and QFM detection thresholds. Discrimination in this frequency region seems to be mediated by detection of the component 2fm Hz below the carrier, i.e., by the most detectable component in the FM signal which does not occur in the QFM signal.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2010
DOI: 10.1016/J.HEARES.2009.11.007
Abstract: The auditory system is capable of perceptually restoring inaudible portions of speech. This restoration may be compromised as a result of hearing impairment, particularly if it is combined with advanced age, because of degradations in the bottom-up and top-down processes. To test this hypothesis, phonemic restoration was quantitatively measured with hearing-impaired listeners of varying ages and degrees of hearing impairment, as well as with a normal hearing control group. The results showed that the restoration benefit was negatively correlated with both hearing impairment and age, supporting the original hypothesis. Group data showed that listeners with mild hearing loss were able to perceptually restore the missing speech segments as well as listeners with normal hearing. By contrast, the moderately-impaired listeners showed no evidence of perceptual restoration. Further analysis using the articulation index showed that listeners with mild hearing loss were able to increase phonemic restoration with audibility. Moderately-impaired listeners, on the other hand, were unable to do so, even when the articulation index was high. The overall findings suggest that, in addition to insufficient audibility, degradations in the bottom-up and/or top-down mechanisms as a result of hearing loss may limit or entirely prevent phonemic restoration.
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 09-08-2021
DOI: 10.1097/AUD.0000000000001113
Abstract: Current hearing aids have a limited bandwidth, which limits the intelligibility and quality of their output, and inhibits their uptake. Recent advances in signal processing, as well as novel methods of transduction, allow for a greater useable frequency range. Previous studies have shown a benefit for this extended bandwidth in consonant recognition, talker-sex identification, and separating sound sources. To explore whether there would be any direct spatial benefits to extending bandwidth, we used a dynamic localization method in a realistic situation. Twenty-eight adult participants with minimal hearing loss reoriented themselves as quickly and accurately as comfortable to a new, off-axis near-field talker continuing a story in a background of far-field talkers of the same overall level in a simulated large room with common building materials. All stimuli were low-pass filtered at either 5 or 10 kHz on each trial. To further simulate current hearing aids, participants wore microphones above the pinnae and insert earphones adjusted to provide a linear, zero-gain response. Each in idual trajectory was recorded with infra-red motion-tracking and analyzed for accuracy, duration, start time, peak velocity, peak velocity time, complexity, reversals, and misorientations. Results across listeners showed a significant increase in peak velocity and significant decrease in start and peak velocity time with greater (10 kHz) bandwidth. These earlier, swifter orientations demonstrate spatial benefits beyond static localization accuracy in plausible conditions extended bandwidth without pinna cues provided more salient cues in a realistic mixture of talkers.
Publisher: Acoustical Society of America (ASA)
Date: 07-2013
DOI: 10.1121/1.4807783
Abstract: Spatial release from masking (SRM) was tested within the first week of fitting and after 12 weeks hearing aid use for unilateral and bilateral adult hearing aid users. A control group of experienced hearing aid users completed testing over a similar time frame. The main research aims were (1) to examine auditory acclimatization effects on SRM performance for unilateral and bilateral hearing aid users, (2) to examine whether hearing aid use, level of hearing loss, age or cognitive ability mediate acclimatization, and (3) to compare and contrast the outcome of unilateral versus bilateral aiding on SRM. Hearing aid users were tested with and without hearing aids, with SRM calculated as the 50% speech recognition threshold advantage when maskers and target are spatially separated at ±90° azimuth to the listener compared to a co-located condition. The conclusions were (1) on average there was no improvement over time in familiar aided listening conditions, (2) there was large test-retest variability which may overshadow small average acclimatization effects greater improvement was associated with better cognitive ability and younger age, but not associated with hearing aid use, and (3) overall, bilateral aids facilitated better SRM performance than unilateral aids.
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 05-2019
DOI: 10.1097/AUD.0000000000000661
Abstract: The objective of this study was to test the ability to achieve, maintain, and subjectively benefit from extended high-frequency lification in a real-world use scenario, with a device that restores audibility for frequencies up to 10 kHz. A total of 78 participants (149 ears) with mild to moderately-severe sensorineural hearing loss completed one of two studies conducted across eight clinical sites. Participants were fitted with a light-driven contact hearing aid (the Earlens system) that directly drives the tympanic membrane, allowing extended high-frequency output and lification with minimal acoustic feedback. Cambridge Method for Loudness Equalization 2 - High Frequency (CAM2)-prescribed gains for experienced users were used for initial fitting, and adjustments were made when required according to participant preferences for loudness and comfort or when measures of functional gain (FG) indicated that more or less gain was needed. Participants wore the devices for an extended period. Prescribed versus adjusted output and gain, frequency-specific FG, and self-perceived benefit assessed with the Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit, and a custom questionnaire were documented. Self-perceived benefit results were compared with those for unaided listening and to ratings with participants’ own acoustic hearing aids. The prescribed low-level insertion gain from 6 to 10 kHz averaged 53 dB across all ears, with a range from 26 to 86 dB. After adjustment, the gain from 6 to 10 kHz decreased to an average of 45 dB with a range from 16 to 86 dB. Measured FG averaged 39 dB from 6 to 10 kHz with a range from 11 to 62 dB. Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit results revealed a significant improvement in communication relative to unaided listening, averaging 28 to 32 percentage points for the background noise, reverberation, and ease of communication subscales. Relative to participants’ own hearing aids, the subscales ease of communication and aversiveness showed small but significant improvements for Earlens ranging from 6 to 7 percentage points. For the custom satisfaction questionnaire, most participants rated the Earlens system as better than their own hearing aids in most situations. Participants used and reported subjective benefit from the Earlens system. Most participants preferred slightly less gain at 6 to 10 kHz than prescribed for experienced users by CAM2, preferring similar gains to those prescribed for inexperienced users, but gains over the extended high frequencies were high relative to those that are currently available with acoustic hearing aids.
Publisher: Georg Thieme Verlag KG
Date: 2013
DOI: 10.3766/JAAA.24.1.3
Abstract: Background: Acceptable noise level (ANL) is a measure of the maximum amount of background noise that a listener is willing to “put up with” while listening to running speech. This test is unique in that it can predict with a high degree of accuracy who will be a successful hearing-aid wearer. In iduals who tolerate high levels of background noise are generally successful hearing-aid wearers, whereas in iduals who do not tolerate background noise well are generally unsuccessful hearing-aid wearers. Purpose: Various studies have been unsuccessful in trying to relate ANLs to listener characteristics or other test results. Presumably, understanding the perceptual mechanism by which listeners determine their ANLs could provide an understanding of the ANL's unique predictive abilities and our current inability to correlate these results with other listener attributes or test results. As a first step in investigating this problem, the relationships between ANLs and other threshold measures where listeners adjust the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) according to some criterion in a way similar to the ANL measure were examined. Research Design and Study S le: Ten normal-hearing and 10 hearing-impaired in iduals participated in a laboratory experiment that followed a within-subjects, repeated-measures design. Data Collection and Analysis: Participants were seated in a sound booth. Running speech and noise (eight-talker babble) were presented from a loudspeaker at 0°, 3 ft in front of the participant. In iduals adjusted either the level of the speech or the level of the background noise. Specifically, with the speech fixed at different levels (50, 63, 75, or 88 dBA), participants performed the ANL task, in which they adjusted the level of the background noise to the maximum level at which they were willing to listen while following the speech. With the noise fixed at different levels (50, 60, 70, or 80 dBA), participants adjusted the level of the speech to the minimum, preferred, or maximum levels at which they were willing to listen while following the speech. Additionally, for the minimum acceptable speech level task, each participant was tested at four participant-specific noise levels, based on his/her ANL results. To emphasize that the speech level was adjusted in these measurements, three new terms were coined: “minimum acceptable speech level” (MinASL), “preferred speech level” (PSL), and “maximum acceptable speech level” (MaxASL). Each condition was presented twice, and the results were averaged. Test order and presentation level were randomized. Hearing-impaired participants were tested in the aided condition only. Results: For most participants, as the presentation level increased, SNRs increased for the ANL test but decreased for the MinASL, PSL, and MaxASL tests. For a few participants, ANLs were similar to MinASLs. For most test conditions, the normal-hearing results were not significantly different from those of the hearing-impaired participants. Conclusions: For most participants, stimulus level affected the SNRs at which they were willing to listen. However, a subset of listeners was willing to listen at a constant SNR for the ANL and MinASL tests. Furthermore, for these in iduals, ANLs and MinASLs were roughly equal, suggesting that these in iduals may have used the same perceptual criterion for both tests.
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 06-2007
Publisher: Acoustical Society of America (ASA)
Date: 03-2013
DOI: 10.1121/1.4789894
Abstract: Aided consonant and vowel identification was measured in 13 listeners with high-frequency sloping hearing losses. To investigate the influence of compression-channel analysis bandwidth on identification performance independent of the number of channels, performance was compared for three 17-channel compression systems that differed only in terms of their channel bandwidths. One compressor had narrow channels, one had widely overlapping channels, and the third had level-dependent channels. Measurements were done in quiet, in speech-shaped noise, and in a three-talker background. The results showed no effect of channel bandwidth, neither on consonant nor on vowel identification scores. This suggests that channel bandwidth per se has little influence on speech intelligibility when in idually prescribed, frequency-varying compressive gain is provided.
Publisher: Acoustical Society of America (ASA)
Date: 06-2014
DOI: 10.1121/1.4874629
Abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate changes in central auditory processing following unilateral and bilateral hearing aid fitting using a combination of physiological and behavioral measures: late auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) and speech recognition in noise, respectively. The hypothesis was that for fitted ears, the ERP litude would increase over time following hearing aid fitting in parallel with improvement in aided speech recognition. The N1 and P2 ERPs were recorded to 500 and 3000 Hz tones presented at 65, 75, and 85 dB sound pressure level to either the left or right ear. New unilateral and new bilateral hearing aid users were tested at the time of first fitting and after 12 weeks hearing aid use. A control group of long-term hearing aid users was tested over the same time frame. No significant changes in the ERP were observed for any group. There was a statistically significant 2% improvement in aided speech recognition over time for all groups, although this was consistent with a general test–retest effect. This study does not support the existence of an acclimatization effect observable in late ERPs following 12 weeks' hearing aid use.
Publisher: American Speech Language Hearing Association
Date: 10-2009
DOI: 10.1044/1092-4388(2009/08-0111)
Abstract: This work is aimed at addressing a seeming contradiction related to the use of noise-reduction (NR) algorithms in hearing aids. The problem is that although some listeners claim a subjective improvement from NR, it has not been shown to improve speech intelligibility, often even making it worse. To address this, the hypothesis tested here is that the positive effects of NR might be to reduce cognitive effort directed toward speech reception, making it available for other tasks. Normal-hearing in iduals participated in 2 dual-task experiments, in which 1 task was to report sentences or words in noise set to various signal-to-noise ratios. Secondary tasks involved either holding words in short-term memory or responding in a complex visual reaction-time task. At low values of signal-to-noise ratio, although NR had no positive effect on speech reception thresholds, it led to better performance on the word-memory task and quicker responses in visual reaction times. Results from both dual tasks support the hypothesis that NR reduces listening effort and frees up cognitive resources for other tasks. Future hearing aid research should incorporate objective measurements of cognitive benefits.
Publisher: Acoustical Society of America (ASA)
Date: 10-2012
DOI: 10.1121/1.4747018
Abstract: When normal-hearing (NH) listeners compare the loudness of narrowband and wideband sounds presented at identical sound pressure levels, the wideband sound will most often be perceived as louder than the narrowband sound, a phenomenon referred to as loudness summation. Hearing-impaired (HI) listeners typically show less-than-normal loudness summation, due to reduced cochlear compressive gain and degraded frequency selectivity. In the present study, loudness summation at 1 and 3 kHz was estimated monaurally for five NH and eight HI listeners by matching the loudness of narrowband and wideband noise stimuli. The loudness summation was measured as a function both of noise bandwidth and level. The HI listeners were tested unaided and aided using three different compression systems to investigate the possibility of restoring loudness summation in these listeners. A compression system employing level-dependent compression channels yielded the most promising outcome. The present results inform the development of future loudness models and advanced compensation strategies for the hearing impaired.
Publisher: Acoustical Society of America (ASA)
Date: 06-1993
DOI: 10.1121/1.405718
Abstract: It has previously been shown that post-stimulus time (PST) histograms have autoregressive properties, which implies that the neural firings have spectral components that are determined by these properties. The expected power spectral density of neural discharges is derived when the process is firing at a constant rate (similar to tonal stimulation at CF with no phase locking). Although the unconditional intensity of the process is not time varying, the spectrum exhibits prominent spectral peaks. The effect of histogram bin size, stimulus intensity, and refractory effects are examined with respect to spectral shape and it is shown that stimulus intensity determines the magnitude of spectral peaks while refractory duration determines the peak locations. The effectiveness of predicting the spectrum is demonstrated with eight-nerve data and point process simulations.
Publisher: Acoustical Society of America (ASA)
Date: 02-1997
DOI: 10.1121/1.418024
Abstract: Contrary to level detection models, the thresholds for a brief-duration probe masked by a sinusoidal frequency modulation (FM) masker increases as the modulation index (β) of FM increases [Zwicker, Acustica 31, 243–256 (1974)]. In this paper the reason for this phenomenon is investigated. In experiment 1, a 10-ms, 1-kHz probe was detected in the presence of an FM masker centered at 1 kHz and sinusoidally modulated at 16 Hz. Thresholds increased by over 15 dB with increasing β, consistent with Zwicker’s findings. In experiment 2, the instantaneous frequency changes of the masker used in experiment 1 were clipped and the resulting thresholds indicated that detection was determined primarily by the masker’s total frequency excursion rather than by its instantaneous sweep rate. In experiment 3, the FM maskers from the first two experiments were passed through a roex filter centered at 1 kHz and the resulting envelope was used to litude modulate a 1-kHz tone, producing approximately the same effective envelope at 1 kHz as the FM maskers. Threshold functions for the litude modulated (AM) maskers were similar to those for their corresponding FM maskers. Thresholds increased by over 15 dB while the total energy of the AM masker decreased by over 10 dB, again contrary to standard level-detection models. The results from these experiments can be explained, at least qualitatively, by a model based on envelope shape discrimination: similarities between the envelopes of the masker alone and masker-plus-probe at the output of an auditory filter centered on the frequency of the probe are primarily responsible for the observed masking, particularly at large β’s.
Publisher: American Speech Language Hearing Association
Date: 18-09-2020
DOI: 10.1044/2020_AJA-19-00068
Abstract: Innovations in user-driven hearing technology and services have placed greater control in the hands of the patient. While these advances could address issues of hearing health care accessibility, their success rests on the assumption that patients possess sufficient technological competence to self-manage these products and services successfully. The purpose of this tutorial is to highlight the importance of focusing on usability, rather than just performance outcomes, during the design, development, and evaluation of user-driven hearing technology and services. This tutorial explores human–technology interaction and usability and discusses practical methods for applying these concepts in hearing health care research and development. Two case studies illustrate how usability can inform the design and development of interactive educational materials for patients and the evaluation of a commercially available mHealth app. In order to derive benefit from innovations in hearing health care, products and services must be intuitively usable in addition to being accessible and affordable. The discipline of human–technology interaction provides a relevant and useful framework to guide future research and development efforts in user-driven hearing health care.
Location: United States of America
No related grants have been discovered for Brent Edwards.