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Published on: October 29, 2018
Binaural directivity patterns for normal and aided human hearing
1Department of Signal Processing and Acoustics, School of Science and Technology, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland. ville.sivonen@gmail.com
Objective:
The aim of this brief report was to investigate binaural directivity patterns for normal and aided hearing, as opposed to conventional monaural measures.
Design:
Head-related transfer functions for an artificial head measured at the entrance to the ear canal and above the pinnae and a binaural loudness model for directional sounds were used to estimate binaural directivity patterns for normal human hearing and behind-the-ear (BTE) hearing devices in the horizontal plane.
Results:
The results show that binaural directivity patterns are smoother than the corresponding monaural patterns, and that there are clear frequency-dependent differences in binaural directivity between the two measurement positions.
Conclusion:
The data can be used in the signal processing of BTE hearing aid systems to mimic the binaural directivity of normal, unoccluded ears.
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