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Behavioral assessment of adaptive feedback equalization in a digital hearing aid
M French-St George1, D J Wood, A M Engebretson
1Central Institute for the Deaf, St. Louis, MO 63110-1594.
Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development
|January 1, 1993
Summary
Digital feedback equalization in hearing aids allows users with hearing impairment to select more gain. This increased gain improves word identification performance, especially for soft speech.
Area of Science:
- Audiology
- Digital Signal Processing
- Hearing Aid Technology
Background:
- Acoustic feedback is a common limitation in hearing aid gain.
- Digital feedback equalization algorithms aim to mitigate this feedback.
- Understanding the impact on user gain selection and speech perception is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the efficacy of a digital feedback equalization algorithm.
- To determine if feedback equalization allows increased gain without feedback.
- To assess if increased gain improves word identification in hearing-impaired listeners.
Main Methods:
- Nine subjects with hearing impairment participated.
- A Wearable Adaptive Digital Hearing Aid with feedback equalization was used.
- Gain adjustments and word identification scores were measured.
Main Results:
- Acoustic feedback limits gain for soft speech (55 dB A) in quiet.
- Feedback equalization enabled an average additional 4 dB gain.
- This resulted in an average 10 RAU improvement in word identification.
Conclusions:
- Digital feedback equalization effectively reduces acoustic feedback limitations.
- Increased gain enabled by equalization enhances word identification performance.
- The algorithm shows promise for improving speech intelligibility in hearing aids.