Effects of Noise Reduction on Speech Intelligibility, Perceived Listening Effort, and Personal Preference in Hearing-Impaired Listeners

Brons, Inge; Houben, Rolph; Dreschler, Wouter A.

doi:10.1177/2331216514553924

Cited by 59 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…I ndividuals with hearing loss have difficulty understanding speech in background noise (Finitzo-Hieber and Tillman, 1978;Crandell, 1993;Cox et al, 2001 ). Although hearing aids (HAs) improve audibility, there are limits to their ability to separate a desired signal from typical noise that is encountered in daily listening environments (Levitt, 2001;Chung, 2004;Brons et al, 2014). Using technology that optimizes the signal level relative to the noise level can improve speech understanding.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of FM and Hearing Aid Microphone Settings, FM Gain, and Ambient Noise Levels on SNR at the Tympanic Membrane

et al. 2016

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When using a remote microphone system coupled with a listener's HA, several variables influence SNR at the TM. Two variables that can be manipulated by programming of either or both devices are the microphone setting and gain setting. Mathematical calculations were used to determine the specific influence of and interactions between these variables and showed the importance of (1) managing noise levels to optimize SNR; and (2) counseling clients regarding optimal use of and realistic expectations from their system. This information is useful in the clinical management of persons with hearing loss, especially with the advent and affordability of wireless microphone accessories to assist listeners in background noise.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of FM and Hearing Aid Microphone Settings, FM Gain, and Ambient Noise Levels on SNR at the Tympanic Membrane

et al. 2016

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“…By suppressing the amplification of noise, DNR addresses one of the core complaints of hearing aid wearers that background noise is often amplified to uncomfortably loud levels. As a result, research has shown that listeners prefer listening in noise with DNR processing because of increased background noise comfort (Jamieson et al, 1995;Ricketts and Hornsby, 2005;Brons et al, 2014). Although background noise comfort can be maximized with aggressive processing parameters which suppress the noise, this may also lead to increased misclassification and distortion of the speech which would have a substantial impact on speech understanding and perceived naturalness.…”

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confidence: 99%

Interactions Between Digital Noise Reduction and Reverberation: Acoustic and Behavioral Effects

2020

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Digital noise reduction (DNR) processing is used in hearing aids to enhance perception in noise by classifying and suppressing the noise acoustics. However, the efficacy of DNR processing is not known under reverberant conditions where the speech-in-noise acoustics are further degraded by reverberation.The purpose of this study was to investigate acoustic and perceptual effects of DNR processing across a range of reverberant conditions for individuals with hearing impairment.This study used an experimental design to investigate the effects of varying reverberation on speech-in-noise processed with DNR.Twenty-six listeners with mild-to-moderate sensorineural hearing impairment participated in the study.Speech stimuli were combined with unmodulated broadband noise at several signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). A range of reverberant conditions with realistic parameters were simulated, as well as an anechoic control condition without reverberation. Reverberant speech-in-noise signals were processed using a spectral subtraction DNR simulation. Signals were acoustically analyzed using a phase inversion technique to quantify improvement in SNR as a result of DNR processing. Sentence intelligibility and subjective ratings of listening effort, speech naturalness, and background noise comfort were examined with and without DNR processing across the conditions.Improvement in SNR was greatest in the anechoic control condition and decreased as the ratio of direct to reverberant energy decreased. There was no significant effect of DNR processing on speech intelligibility in the anechoic control condition, but there was a significant decrease in speech intelligibility with DNR processing in all of the reverberant conditions. Subjectively, listeners reported greater listening effort and lower speech naturalness with DNR processing in some of the reverberant conditions. Listeners reported higher background noise comfort with DNR processing only in the anechoic control condition.Results suggest that reverberation affects DNR processing using a spectral subtraction algorithm in such a way that decreases the ability of DNR to reduce noise without distorting the speech acoustics. Overall, DNR processing may be most beneficial in environments with little reverberation and that the use of DNR processing in highly reverberant environments may actually produce adverse perceptual effects. Further research is warranted using commercial hearing aids in realistic reverberant environments.

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“…, Brons, Houben, & Dreschler, 2012;Sarampalis et al, 2009, but see e.g. Desjardins, 2016;Brons et al, 2014). This paper addresses the question whether NR might also provide some benefits for older hearing-impaired listeners' in terms of their ability to perform a secondary task while trying to understand speech in the presence of background noise (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multitasking with typical use of hearing aid noise reduction in older listeners

Schoof¹,

Souza²

2018

Preprint

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Objective: Older hearing-impaired adults typically experience difficulties understanding speech in noise. Most hearing aids address this issue using digital noise reduction. While noise reduction does not necessarily improve speech recognition, it may reduce the resources required to process the speech signal. Those available resources may, in turn, aid the ability to perform another task while listening to speech (i.e., multitasking). This study examined to what extent changing the strength of digital noise reduction in hearing aids affects the ability to multitask. Design: Multitasking was measured using a dual-task paradigm, combining a speech recognition task and a visual monitoring task. The speech recognition task involved sentence recognition in the presence of six-talker babble at signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) of 2 and 7 dB. Participants were fit with commercially-available hearing aids programmed under three noise reduction settings: off, mild, strong. Study sample: 18 hearing-impaired older adults. Results: There were no effects of noise reduction on the ability to multitask, or on the ability to recognize speech in noise. Conclusions: Adjustment of noise reduction settings in the clinic may not invariably improve performance for some tasks.

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Effects of Noise Reduction on Speech Intelligibility, Perceived Listening Effort, and Personal Preference in Hearing-Impaired Listeners

Cited by 59 publications

References 29 publications

The Effects of FM and Hearing Aid Microphone Settings, FM Gain, and Ambient Noise Levels on SNR at the Tympanic Membrane

The Effects of FM and Hearing Aid Microphone Settings, FM Gain, and Ambient Noise Levels on SNR at the Tympanic Membrane

Interactions Between Digital Noise Reduction and Reverberation: Acoustic and Behavioral Effects

Multitasking with typical use of hearing aid noise reduction in older listeners

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