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Listening through hearing aids affects spatial perception and speech intelligibility in normal-hearing listeners
Jens Cubick1, Jörg M Buchholz2, Virginia Best3
1Hearing Systems Group, Department of Electrical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Ørsteds Plads, Building 352, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark.
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
|December 8, 2018
Summary
Hearing aids (HAs) can worsen speech understanding in noise for normal-hearing listeners. This study found that while HAs altered spatial perception, they did not directly impact the ability to separate speech from noise.
Area of Science:
- Auditory perception
- Acoustics
- Speech processing
Background:
- Hearing aids (HAs) can increase speech reception thresholds (SRTs) in noise for normal-hearing listeners.
- Listeners sometimes report altered spatial perception with HAs, such as broader or internalized auditory images.
- The impact of distorted spatial perception on speech intelligibility in noise requires further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if impaired spatial perception due to hearing aid processing contributes to reduced speech intelligibility in noise.
- To determine if hearing aids affect the ability to spatially segregate target speech from interfering sounds.
- To explore the relationship between subjective spatial perception and objective speech intelligibility measures.
Main Methods:
- Speech reception thresholds (SRTs) were measured in normal-hearing listeners with and without hearing aids.
- Stimuli included target speech in the presence of three interfering talkers or speech-shaped noises.
- Listeners sketched their spatial perception of the acoustic scene to assess auditory image changes.
Main Results:
- SRTs were significantly higher with hearing aids compared to unaided conditions, consistent with previous findings.
- Spatial release from masking was reduced when listeners used hearing aids.
- These effects were observed for both speech and noise maskers and were linked to changes in energetic masking, as supported by a binaural speech intelligibility model.
Conclusions:
- Hearing aids can reduce spatial release from masking, potentially by altering energetic masking, leading to decreased speech intelligibility.
- Although hearing aids changed listeners' spatial perception, a direct causal link between altered spatial perception and reduced speech segregation ability was not established.
- Further research may be needed to fully understand the complex interplay between hearing aid acoustics, spatial hearing, and speech perception in noise.
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