Browse > Article
http://dx.doi.org/10.9718/JBER.2011.32.3.218

A Study on the Performance of Companding Algorithms for Digital Hearing Aid Users  

Hwang, Y.S. (Department of Biomedical Engineering, Hanyang University)
Han, J.H. (Department of Biomedical Engineering, Hanyang University)
Ji, Y.S. (Department of Biomedical Engineering, Hanyang University)
Hong, S.H. (Department of ORL-HNS, Sungkyunkwan University)
Lee, S.M. (Department of Electronic Engineering, Inha University)
Kim, D.W. (Bio & Health Lab, Samsung Advance Institute of Technology)
Kim, In-Young (Department of Biomedical Engineering, Hanyang University)
Kim, Sun-I. (Department of Biomedical Engineering, Hanyang University)
Publication Information
Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research / v.32, no.3, 2011 , pp. 218-229 More about this Journal
Abstract
Companding algorithms have been used to enhance speech recognition in noise for cochlea implant users. The efficiency of using companding for digital hearing aid users is not yet validated. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the performance of the companding for digital hearing aid users in the various hearing loss cases. Using HeLPS, a hearing loss simulator, two different sensorinerual hearing loss conditions were simulated; mild gently sloping hearing loss(HL1) and moderate to steeply sloping hearing loss(HL2). In addition, a non-linear compression was simulated to compensate for hearing loss using national acoustic laboratories-non-linear version 1(NAL-NL1) in HeLPS. In companding, the following four different companding strategies were used changing Q values(q1, q2) of pre-filter(F filter) and post filter(G filter). Firstly, five IEEE sentences which were presented with speech-shaped noise at different SNRs(0, 5, 10, 15 dB) were processed by the companding. Secondly, the processed signals were applied to HeLPS. For comparison, signals which were not processed by companding were also applied to HeLPS. For the processed signals, log-likelihood ratio(LLR) and cepstral distance(CEP) were measured for evaluation of speech quality. Also, fourteen normal hearing listeners performed speech reception threshold(SRT) test for evaluation of speech intelligibility. As a result of this study, the processed signals with the companding and NAL-NL1 have performed better than that with only NAL-NL1 in the sensorineural hearing loss conditions. Moreover, the higher ratio of Q values showed better scores in LLR and CEP. In the SRT test, the processed signals with companding(SRT = -13.33 dB SPL) showed significantly better speech perception in noise than those processed using only NAL-NL1(SRT = -11.56 dB SPL).
Keywords
Speech recognition; Companding; NAL-NL1; Hearing loss simulator;
Citations & Related Records
연도 인용수 순위
  • Reference
1 Y. Hu and P.C. Loizou, "Evaluation of objective quality measures for speech enhancement," Audio, Speech, and Language Processing, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 16, pp. 229-238, 2008.   DOI
2 J.H. Lee, et al., Korean speech audiometry, 1st ed. Seoul: Hakjisa Publisher, 2010.
3 A.M. Kondoz, Digital speech: coding for low bit rate communication systems: John Wiley & Sons Inc, 2004, pp. 65-67.
4 K.W. BERGER, "Prescription of hearing aids: A rationale," Ear and hearing, vol. 2, pp. 71, 1976.
5 G. McCandless and P. Lyregaard, "Prescription of gain/output (POGO) for hearing aids," Hearing Instruments, vol. 34, pp. 16-21, 1983.
6 E. Libby, "The 1/3-2/3 insertion gain hearing aid selection guide," Hearing Instruments, vol. 37, pp. 27-28, 1986.
7 D. Byrne and H. Dillon, "The National Acoustic Laboratories'( NAL) new procedure for selecting the gain and frequency response of a hearing aid," Ear and hearing, vol. 7, pp. 257, 1986.   DOI   ScienceOn
8 P.M. Zurek and J.G. Desloge, "Hearing loss and prosthesis simulation in audiology," The Hearing Journal, vol. 60, pp. 32, 2007.
9 H. Dillon, "NAL-NL1: A new prescriptive fitting procedure for non-linear hearing aids," Hearing Journal, vol. 52, pp. 10-16, 1999.
10 R. Carhart and J.F. Jerger, "Preferred method for clinical determination of pure-tone thresholds," Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, vol. 24, pp. 330, 1959.   DOI
11 J. Claerbout, "Fundamentals of geophysical data processing," Geophysical Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 86, pp. 217-219, 1986.
12 L. Marple Jr, "Computing the discrete-time analytic signal via FFT," Signal Processing, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 47, pp. 2600-2603, 2002.
13 J. Lyzenga, et al., "A speech enhancement scheme incorporating spectral expansion evaluated with simulated loss of frequency selectivity," The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol. 112, pp. 1145, 2002.   DOI   ScienceOn
14 E. Rothauser, et al., "IEEE recommended practice for speech quality measurements," IEEE Transactions on Audio Electroacoustics, vol. 17, pp. 227-246, 1969.
15 D. Byrne, et al., "An international comparison of long-term average speech spectra," Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol. 96, pp. 2108-2120, 1994.   DOI   ScienceOn
16 M. Stone and B. Moore, "Spectral feature enhancement for people with sensorineural hearing impairment: effects on speech intelligibility and quality," Journal of rehabilitation research and development, vol. 29, pp. 39, 1992.   DOI   ScienceOn
17 T. Baer, et al., "Spectral contrast enhancement of speech in noise for listeners with sensorineural hearing impairment: effects on intelligibility, quality, and response times," Journal of rehabilitation research and development, vol. 30, pp. 49, 1993.
18 B.A.M. Franck, et al., "Evaluation of spectral enhancement in hearing aids, combined with phonemic compression," The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol. 106, pp. 1452, 1999.   DOI
19 J. Yang, et al., "Spectral contrast enhancement: Algorithms and comparisons* 1," Speech Communication, vol. 39, pp. 33-46, 2003.   DOI
20 L. Turicchia and R. Sarpeshkar, "A bio-inspired companding strategy for spectral enhancement," Speech and Audio Processing, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 13, pp. 243-253, 2005.   DOI
21 H.T. Bunnell, "On enhancement of spectral contrast in speech for hearing impaired listeners," The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol. 88, pp. 2546, 1990.   DOI
22 A. Bhattacharya and F.G. Zeng, "Companding to improve cochlear-implant speech recognition in speech-shaped noise," The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol. 122, pp. 1079, 2007.   DOI   ScienceOn
23 J.M. Kates, "Two-tone suppression in a cochlear model," Speech and Audio Processing, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 3, pp. 396-406, 1995.   DOI   ScienceOn
24 H. Dillon, Hearing aids: Thieme Medical Pub, 2001. pp. 2-6, 244-245.
25 R. Plomp, "Noise, amplification, and compression: Considerations of three main issues in hearing aid design," Ear and Hearing, vol. 15, pp. 2, 1994.   DOI   ScienceOn
26 R. Plomp, "The negative effect of amplitude compression in multichannel hearing aids in the light of the modulation transfer function," The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol. 83, pp. 2322, 1988.   DOI
27 A. Simpson, et al., "Spectral enhancement to improve the intelligibility of speech in noise for hearing-impaired listeners," Acta oto-laryngologica. Supplementum, vol. 469, pp. 101, 1990.
28 R. Seewald and M. Ross, "Amplification for young hearingimpaired children," Amplification for the hearing-impaired, pp. 213-271, 1988.
29 T.N.K. Raju, "William Sealy Gosset and William A. Silverman: Two "Students" of Science," Pediatrics, vol. 116, pp. 732, 2005.   DOI   ScienceOn
30 P.C. Loizou and O. Poroy, "Minimum spectral contrast needed for vowel identification by normal hearing and cochlear implant listeners," The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol. 110, pp. 1619, 2001.   DOI   ScienceOn
31 R. Seewald, et al., "Computer-assisted implementation of the desired sensation level method for electroacoustic selection and fitting in children: Version 3.1, user's manual," Hearing Health Care Research Unit Technical Report, vol. 2, 1993.
32 ANSI, "ANSI S3. 5-1997, Methods for the calculation of the speech intelligibility index," ed: American National Standards Institute New York, 1997.
33 D. Preves, "Output limiting and speech enhancement," The Vanderbilt hearing-aid report II, pp. 35-51, 1991.