Design and evaluation of back-end compressors for compressed content for cochlear implant users

Area of Science:

• Audiology
• Biomedical Engineering
• Signal Processing

Background:

• Digital streaming services are widely used by cochlear implant (CI) users.
• CI users face limitations due to a narrow electrical dynamic range (EDR).
• Existing audio processing may not adequately accommodate the acoustic dynamic range (ADR) of streaming content for CI users.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the acoustic dynamic range (ADR) of streaming content.
• To determine the necessity of novel back-end compressors for CI users consuming digital media.
• To develop and evaluate new back-end compressors tailored for streaming content.

Main Methods:

• Objective measures were used to analyze the ADR of streaming content.
• Three novel back-end compressors were designed: PC Streaming Voice Guard, Tablet Streaming Voice Guard, and Music Streaming Voice Guard.
• Perceptual evaluations and user questionnaires assessed speech understanding, voice clarity, and overall enjoyment in CI users.

Main Results:

• Objective measures informed the design of three specialized back-end compressors.
• CI users demonstrated significantly improved speech understanding with compressed ADR content using the new compressors.
• Perceptual evaluations showed enhanced clarity for both spoken and singing voices.
• Overall enjoyment of streaming content significantly increased with the Tablet Streaming Voice Guard.

Conclusions:

• The developed back-end compressors effectively address the narrow ADR of streaming content for CI users.
• Tablet Streaming Voice Guard offers significant improvements and is recommended for streaming applications and narrow ADR content.
• These findings highlight the potential for improved auditory experience and communication for CI users in digital media consumption.