Distortion of interaural time cues by directional noise reduction systems in modern digital hearing aids

Author

Van de Bogaert, T. ; Wouters, Jan ; Klasen, Thomas J. ; Moonen, Marc

Author_Institution

Lab. Exp. ORL, Katholieke Univ. Leuven, Belgium

fYear

2005

fDate

16-19 Oct. 2005

Firstpage

57

Lastpage

60

Abstract

In this paper we analyze the distortion of interaural time information by modern digital hearing aids. It is shown that the directionality in dual microphone hearing aids, created by a software directional microphone or an adaptive directional microphone, are very sensitive to intermicrophone mismatch, which in particular results in severe distortion of interaural time information. This interaural information is crucial for sound localization as well as for speech perception in noise.

Keywords

handicapped aids; hearing aids; microphones; speech processing; digital hearing aids; directional noise reduction systems; dual microphone hearing aids; interaural time cue distortion; intermicrophone mismatch; noise speech perception; software directional microphone; sound localization; Acoustic noise; Auditory system; Delay effects; Ear; Hearing aids; Humans; Microphones; Noise reduction; Speech enhancement; Working environment noise;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Applications of Signal Processing to Audio and Acoustics, 2005. IEEE Workshop on

Print_ISBN

0-7803-9154-3

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ASPAA.2005.1540167

Filename

1540167