Theoretical Issues of Validity in the Measurement of Aided Speech Reception Threshold in Noise for Comparing Nonlinear Hearing Aid Systems

Naylor, Graham

doi:10.3766/jaaa.15093

Cited by 24 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 31 publications

(45 reference statements)

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“…This result is in line with recent reports showing that input SNR can affect objective measures of hearing-aid benefit (e.g. Naylor & Johannesson, 2009; Naylor, 2016). A more comprehensive study is needed, in which the SNR is varied within rather than across subjects, to examine this issue further.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Evaluation of the NAL Dynamic Conversations Test in older listeners with hearing loss

Best

Keidser

Freeston

et al. 2017

International Journal of Audiology

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Objective: The National Acoustic Laboratories Dynamic Conversations Test (NAL-DCT) is a new test of speech comprehension that incorporates a realistic environment and dynamic speech materials that capture certain features of everyday conversations. The goal of this study was to assess the suitability of the test for studying the consequences of hearing loss and amplification in older listeners. Design: Unaided and aided comprehension scores were measured for single-, two- and three-talker passages, along with unaided and aided sentence recall. To characterise the relevant cognitive abilities of the group, measures of short-term working memory, verbal information-processing speed, and reading comprehension speed were collected. Study Sample: Participants were 41 older listeners with varying degrees of hearing loss. Results: Performance on both the NAL-DCT and the sentence test was strongly driven by hearing loss, but performance on the NAL-DCT was additionally related to a composite cognitive deficit score. Benefits of amplification were measurable but influenced by individual test SNRs. Conclusions: The NAL-DCT is sensitive to the same factors as a traditional sentence recall test, but in addition is sensitive to cognitive factors required for speech processing. The test shows promise as a tool for research concerned with real-world listening.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Evaluation of the NAL Dynamic Conversations Test in older listeners with hearing loss

Best

Keidser

Freeston

et al. 2017

International Journal of Audiology

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“…As is typically the case when targeting the 50% correct response rate with a normal-hearing adult population, all testing was done at negative SNRs. Further work is needed to measure the efficacy of a slower speech rate at more realistic SNRs (Naylor, 2016), as such environments have also been found to induce slower rate of speech in talkers (Aubanel et al, 2011). The benefits observed in the current study of nonlinear retiming at negative SNRs may be reduced at higher SNRs; lower than expected benefits for a fluctuating masker advantage in comparison to stationary noise have consistently been observed at positive SNRs (Bernstein and Grant, 2009;Oxenham and Simonson, 2009;Freyman et al, 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of linear and nonlinear speech rate changes on speech intelligibility in stationary and fluctuating maskers

Cooke

Aubanel

2017

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

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Algorithmic modifications to the durational structure of speech designed to avoid intervals of intense masking lead to increases in intelligibility, but the basis for such gains is not clear. The current study addressed the possibility that the reduced information load produced by speech rate slowing might explain some or all of the benefits of durational modifications. The study also investigated the influence of masker stationarity on the effectiveness of durational changes. Listeners identified keywords in sentences that had undergone linear and nonlinear speech rate changes resulting in overall temporal lengthening in the presence of stationary and fluctuating maskers. Relative to unmodified speech, a slower speech rate produced no intelligibility gains for the stationary masker, suggesting that a reduction in information rate does not underlie intelligibility benefits of durationally modified speech. However, both linear and nonlinear modifications led to substantial intelligibility increases in fluctuating noise. One possibility is that overall increases in speech duration provide no new phonetic information in stationary masking conditions, but that temporal fluctuations in the background increase the likelihood of glimpsing additional salient speech cues. Alternatively, listeners may have benefitted from an increase in the difference in speech rates between the target and background.

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“…The nature of the fixed SNR test used in this study lends itself to the potential from problematic ceiling effects. However, fixed SNR tests may be preferable than adaptive ones for within-participant investigations of hearing aid technologies (Naylor, 2016). Regardless, future work is warranted to further explore the magnitude of expected and realized benefits, particularly of the bilateral beamformer in adverse listening conditions.…”

Section: Study Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Evaluation of Hearing Aid Beamforming Microphone Arrays in a Noisy Laboratory Setting

Picou

Ricketts

2019

J Am Acad Audiol

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People with hearing loss experience difficulty understanding speech in noisy environments. Beamforming microphone arrays in hearing aids can improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and thus also speech recognition and subjective ratings. Unilateral beamformer arrays, also known as directional microphones, accomplish this improvement using two microphones in one hearing aid. Bilateral beamformer arrays, which combine information across four microphones in a bilateral fitting, further improve the SNR. Early bilateral beamformers were static with fixed attenuation patterns. Recently adaptive, bilateral beamformers have been introduced in commercial hearing aids.The purpose of this article was to evaluate the potential benefits of adaptive unilateral and bilateral beamformers for improving sentence recognition and subjective ratings in a laboratory setting. A secondary purpose was to identify potential participant factors that explain some of the variability in beamformer benefit.Participants were fitted with study hearing aids equipped with commercially available adaptive unilateral and bilateral beamformers. Participants completed sentence recognition testing in background noise using three hearing aid settings (omnidirectional, unilateral beamformer, bilateral beamformer) and two noise source configurations (surround, side). After each condition, participants made subjective ratings of their perceived work, desire to control the situation, willingness to give up, and tiredness.Eighteen adults (50–80 yr, M = 66.2, σ = 8.6) with symmetrical mild sloping to severe hearing loss participated.Sentence recognition scores and subjective ratings were analyzed separately using generalized linear models with two within-subject factors (hearing aid microphone and noise configuration). Two benefit scores were calculated: (1) unilateral beamformer benefit (relative to performance with omnidirectional) and (2) additional bilateral beamformer benefit (relative to performance with unilateral beamformer). Hierarchical multiple linear regression was used to determine if beamformer benefit was associated with participant factors (age, degree of hearing loss, unaided speech in noise ability, spatial release from masking, and performance in omnidirectional).Sentence recognition and subjective ratings of work, control, and tiredness were better with both types of beamformers relative to the omnidirectional conditions. In addition, the bilateral beamformer offered small additional improvements relative to the unilateral beamformer in terms of sentence recognition and subjective ratings of tiredness. Speech recognition performance and subjective ratings were generally independent of noise configuration. Performance in the omnidirectional setting and pure-tone average were independently related to unilateral beamformer benefits. Those with the lowest performance or the largest degree of hearing loss benefited the most. No factors were significantly related to additional bilateral beamformer benefit.Adaptive bilateral beamformers offer additional advantages over adaptive unilateral beamformers in hearing aids. The small additional advantages with the adaptive beamformer are comparable to those reported in the literature with static beamformers. Although the additional benefits are small, they positively affected subjective ratings of tiredness. These data suggest that adaptive bilateral beamformers have the potential to improve listening in difficult situations for hearing aid users. In addition, patients who struggle the most without beamforming microphones may also benefit the most from the technology.

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Theoretical Issues of Validity in the Measurement of Aided Speech Reception Threshold in Noise for Comparing Nonlinear Hearing Aid Systems

Cited by 24 publications

References 31 publications

Evaluation of the NAL Dynamic Conversations Test in older listeners with hearing loss

Evaluation of the NAL Dynamic Conversations Test in older listeners with hearing loss

Effects of linear and nonlinear speech rate changes on speech intelligibility in stationary and fluctuating maskers

An Evaluation of Hearing Aid Beamforming Microphone Arrays in a Noisy Laboratory Setting

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