The efficacy of microphone directionality in improving speech recognition in noise for three commercial cochlear-implant systems

Improvements in Hearing and in Quality of Life after Sequential Bilateral Cochlear Implantation in a Consecutive Sample of Adult Patients with Severe-to-Profound Hearing Loss

“…Figure 2 shows the median SRT in noise for speech in the front and noise either co-located with the speech signal (S0N0, BICI in Figure 1 ) or the noise at 90° on the side of the first (S0NCI1) or the second (S0NCI2) implanted ear. In addition, an estimated CI1-only performance is shown in the S0NCI1 condition based on the mean preoperative SRT of the present study and the difference between S0N0 and S0NCI1 in listening via a unilateral CI [ 19 ]. Similar to the data presented in Figure 1 , the Wilcoxon signed-rank post-hoc test was utilized and pairwise comparisons were made: (1) between each assessment point in time (1, 3, 6, and 12 months) for the listening modes with the noise on the side (S0NCI1 and S0NCI2) resulting in 6 × 2 comparisons, and (2) within each assessment point between each listening mode resulting in 4 × 3 comparisons, and a Bonferroni adjustment was made to the total number of tests (N = 24).…”

“…Based on an individual candidacy assessment, sequential BICI in working-age adults followed some years later and the first outcomes were published soon thereafter [ 16 ]. Since then, there has been considerable development in Finnish hearing diagnostics with the nationwide adoption of the Finnish Matrix Sentence Test (FMST; [ 17 ]) and its applications [ 18 , 19 , 20 ]. The test has been developed according to international guidelines and such tests are available in a growing number of different languages, allowing for internationally comparable speech recognition thresholds (SRTs) in noise across studies [ 21 , 22 ].…”

Adult Users of the Oticon Medical Neuro Cochlear Implant System Benefit from Beamforming in the High Frequencies

“…The two modes tested, Opti Omni and Speech Omni, are the Surround modes available in Oticon Medical CIs, and Study 2 showed a mean improvement of 1.81 dB in SRTs from Opti Omni to Speech Omni. The present study did not measure the benefit of the two directionality modes, Split Directionality and Full Directionality, modes similar to other commercially available directional microphones [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 23 , 24 , 25 ]. Taken together, the results show that Speech Omni improves speech identification both with a single noise source, presented at azimuth 180 degrees in Study 1, as well as with multiple noise sources, presented at azimuth 0, +60, +120, −120, and −60 degrees in Study 2.…”

“…Directional microphones have been commercially available in CIs for over 15 years. Several studies have documented directional microphone benefits in terms of the speech identification performance in CI users, both after the provision of a habituation period, during which the user trialed the microphone mode at home before laboratory testing [ 16 , 17 , 18 ], or without such a habituation period [ 9 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ]. Several studies have shown that, compared to an omnidirectional microphone, the directional microphone benefit for CI users in anechoic or low reverberation environments is around 3.5–6 dB [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 23 , 24 , 25 ].…”

Directional Sound Sensor With Consistent Directivity and Sensitivity in the Audible Range

“…For instance, a smart speaker and display must recognize a user's voice even while the system is delivering a sound output [1]. In addition, a hearing aid should suppress ambient noise and provide relevant sounds to the user [2], [3]. Acoustic beamforming is a spatial filtering method used to obtain desired sound signals in a noisy environment [4], [5].…”