Validation of realistic acoustic environments for listening tests using directional hearing aids

Oreinos, Chris; Buchholz, Jörg M.

doi:10.1109/iwaenc.2014.6954004

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“… Oreinos and Buchholz (2014) found similar signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) benefits for an adaptive, binaural, correlation-based beamformer in a comparison between a real environment and an auralization via a 41 loudspeaker spherical array, driven by simulation and mixed-order ambisonics ( Favrot et al, 2011 ) recordings. In Oreinos and Buchholz (2016 ), they additionally observed similar performance in the VAE compared to the real environment for speech intelligibility and acceptable noise level for hearing-aid equipped listeners.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Spatial Resolution of Late Reverberation in Virtual Acoustic Environments

et al. 2021

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Late reverberation involves the superposition of many sound reflections, approaching the properties of a diffuse sound field. Since the spatially resolved perception of individual late reflections is impossible, simplifications can potentially be made for modelling late reverberation in room acoustics simulations with reduced spatial resolution. Such simplifications are desired for interactive, real-time virtual acoustic environments with applications in hearing research and for the evaluation of hearing supportive devices. In this context, the number and spatial arrangement of loudspeakers used for playback additionally affect spatial resolution. The current study assessed the minimum number of spatially evenly distributed virtual late reverberation sources required to perceptually approximate spatially highly resolved isotropic and anisotropic late reverberation and to technically approximate a spherically isotropic sound field. The spatial resolution of the rendering was systematically reduced by using subsets of the loudspeakers of an 86-channel spherical loudspeaker array in an anechoic chamber, onto which virtual reverberation sources were mapped using vector base amplitude panning. It was tested whether listeners can distinguish lower spatial resolutions of reproduction of late reverberation from the highest achievable spatial resolution in different simulated rooms. The rendering of early reflections remained unchanged. The coherence of the sound field across a pair of microphones at ear and behind-the-ear hearing device distance was assessed to separate the effects of number of virtual sources and loudspeaker array geometry. Results show that between 12 and 24 reverberation sources are required for the rendering of late reverberation in virtual acoustic environments.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Spatial Resolution of Late Reverberation in Virtual Acoustic Environments

et al. 2021

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“…The accuracy of the applied ODEON room simulation software has been verified in different round robin studies (e.g. Bork, 2005) and the accuracy of the applied sound reproduction techniques by Favrot and Buchholz (2010) and Oreinos and Buchholz (2014). Hence, even though the applied cafeteria environment was not verified by direct comparison with a real room, it can be assumed that the cafeteria environment provides a realistic, or at least plausible, realization of an example reverberant environment.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 98%

An examination of speech reception thresholds measured in a simulated reverberant cafeteria environment

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Keidser

Buchholz

et al. 2015

International Journal of Audiology

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Objective There is increasing demand in the hearing research community for the creation of laboratory environments that better simulate challenging real-world listening environments. The hope is that the use of such environments for testing will lead to more meaningful assessments of listening ability, and better predictions about the performance of hearing devices. Here we present one approach for simulating a complex acoustic environment in the laboratory, and investigate the effect of transplanting a speech test into such an environment. Design Speech reception thresholds were measured in a simulated reverberant cafeteria, and in a more typical anechoic laboratory environment containing background speech babble. Study Sample The participants were 46 listeners varying in age and hearing levels, including 25 hearing-aid wearers who were tested with and without their hearing aids. Results Reliable SRTs were obtained in the complex environment, but led to different estimates of performance and hearing aid benefit from those measured in the standard environment. Conclusions The findings provide a starting point for future efforts to increase the real-world relevance of laboratory-based speech tests.

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“…The background noises were recordings of real-life acoustic environments obtained using a three-dimensional 62-channel hard-sphere microphone array built in-house. The recorded signals were transformed into loudspeaker signals using the higher order Ambisonics method (Oreinos, 2015; Oreinos & Buchholz, 2016). Only the horizontal components were taken into account (up to an Ambisonics order of N = 7) in the sound reproduction process (e.g., Oreinos, 2015), which has been shown to be adequate for HA settings for sounds arriving from the horizontal plane (Oreinos & Buchholz, 2015).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The recorded signals were transformed into loudspeaker signals using the higher order Ambisonics method (Oreinos, 2015; Oreinos & Buchholz, 2016). Only the horizontal components were taken into account (up to an Ambisonics order of N = 7) in the sound reproduction process (e.g., Oreinos, 2015), which has been shown to be adequate for HA settings for sounds arriving from the horizontal plane (Oreinos & Buchholz, 2015). Recorded sounds arriving from above or below were reproduced with a decreased spatial resolution.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consistency of Hearing Aid Setting Preference in Simulated Real-World Environments: Implications for Trainable Hearing Aids

2020

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Trainable hearing aids let users fine-tune their hearing aid settings in their own listening environment: Based on consistent user-adjustments and information about the acoustic environment, the trainable aids will change environment-specific settings to the user’s preference. A requirement for effective fine-tuning is consistency of preference for similar settings in similar environments. The aim of this study was to evaluate consistency of preference for settings differing in intensity, gain-frequency slope, and directionality when listening in simulated real-world environments and to determine if participants with more consistent preferences could be identified based on profile measures. A total of 52 adults (63–88 years) with hearing varying from normal to a moderate sensorineural hearing loss selected their preferred setting from pairs differing in intensity (3 or 6 dB), gain-frequency slope (±1.3 or ± 2.7 dB/octave), or directionality (omnidirectional vs. cardioid) in four simulated real-world environments: traffic noise, a monologue in traffic noise at 5 dB signal-to-noise ratio, and a dialogue in café noise at 5 and at 0 dB signal-to-noise ratio. Forced-choice comparisons were made 10 times for each combination of pairs of settings and environment. Participants also completed nine psychoacoustic, cognitive, and personality measures. Consistency of preference, defined by a setting preferred at least 9 out of 10 times, varied across participants. More participants obtained consistent preferences for larger differences between settings and less difficult environments. The profile measures did not predict consistency of preference. Trainable aid users could benefit from counselling to ensure realistic expectations for particular adjustments and listening situations.

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Validation of realistic acoustic environments for listening tests using directional hearing aids

Cited by 5 publications

References 10 publications

Spatial Resolution of Late Reverberation in Virtual Acoustic Environments

Spatial Resolution of Late Reverberation in Virtual Acoustic Environments

An examination of speech reception thresholds measured in a simulated reverberant cafeteria environment

Consistency of Hearing Aid Setting Preference in Simulated Real-World Environments: Implications for Trainable Hearing Aids

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