• Journal of Audiology & Otology
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• 제24권4호
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• pp.174-179
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• 2020

Background and Objectives: The integration of auditory-visual speech information improves speech perception; however, if the auditory system input is disrupted due to hearing loss, auditory and visual inputs cannot be fully integrated. Additionally, temporal coincidence of auditory and visual input is a significantly important factor in integrating the input of these two senses. Time delayed acoustic pathway caused by the signal passing through digital signal processing. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effects of hearing loss and hearing aid digital delay circuit on sound-induced flash illusion. Subjects and Methods: A total of 13 adults with normal hearing, 13 with mild to moderate hearing loss, and 13 with moderate to severe hearing loss were enrolled in this study. Subsequently, the sound-induced flash illusion test was conducted, and the results were analyzed. Results: The results showed that hearing aid digital delay and hearing loss had no detrimental effect on sound-induced flash illusion. Conclusions: Transmission velocity and neural transduction rate of the auditory inputs decreased in patients with hearing loss. Hence, the integrating auditory and visual sensory cannot be combined completely. Although the transmission rate of the auditory sense input was approximately normal when the hearing aid was prescribed. Thus, it can be concluded that the processing delay in the hearing aid circuit is insufficient to disrupt the integration of auditory and visual information.

• 대한의용생체공학회:의공학회지
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• 제18권4호
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• pp.457-466
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• 1997

청력장애인이 전화상의 말에 대한 청취력을 향상시킬수 있는 보청기능이 있는 전화기를 개발하였다. 최근 청력장애인이 늘어나고 있으며 생산자로서의 사회참여 욕구 또한 늘어나고 있는데 이들은 자신의 핸디캡을 메워줄 보조기기를 강력히 원하고 있다. 보청기능 전화기는 음성으로써 외부 정보를 획득할 수 있는 기본적인 통신 보조기기의 한 형태이다. 본 연구팀은 청력장애인의 청력특성을 분석하고 전화기에 청력 보상법을 적용함으로써 보청기능이 있는 새로운 모델의 전화기를 개발하였고 3가지 분야의 시험(전기적 시험, 단어 인지도 시험, 사용자 시험)을 수행하여 이 전화기의 유용성을 평가하였다. 새 전화기는 4개의 대역통과필터를 가지고 있으며 각 밴드의 중심주파수는 전화라인의 특성과 심리음향학적인 특성을 고려하여 500, 1000, 2000, 3000 Hz로 설정하였다. 청력장애인은 전화기의 증폭특성을 자신의 청력에 맞도록 피팅(fitting)할 수 있다. 즉 자신의 손실된 청력을 잘 보상하도록 4개 필터밴드에 대한 볼륨조절을 개별적으로 조정할 수 있다. 전화기의 전체 이득은 250~32000Hz 대역내에서 20㏈ 이상이다. 시험결과 새 모델의 전화기가 기존의 전화기보다 청력장애인의 전화음성 이해도를 향상 시킨다고 증명되었다. 향후 측음 및 잡음 억제, 주파수 대역분리, 청력패턴 보상과 심리음향적 라우드니스(loudness)보상에 대한 연구가 필요하며 공학과 임상 분야에서의 청력장애인의 언어 이지특성 연구를 통하여 더욱 발전된 전화기가 개발될 수 있다고 판단된다.

• 대한청각학회지
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• 제24권4호
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• pp.174-179
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• 2020

Background and Objectives: The integration of auditory-visual speech information improves speech perception; however, if the auditory system input is disrupted due to hearing loss, auditory and visual inputs cannot be fully integrated. Additionally, temporal coincidence of auditory and visual input is a significantly important factor in integrating the input of these two senses. Time delayed acoustic pathway caused by the signal passing through digital signal processing. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effects of hearing loss and hearing aid digital delay circuit on sound-induced flash illusion. Subjects and Methods: A total of 13 adults with normal hearing, 13 with mild to moderate hearing loss, and 13 with moderate to severe hearing loss were enrolled in this study. Subsequently, the sound-induced flash illusion test was conducted, and the results were analyzed. Results: The results showed that hearing aid digital delay and hearing loss had no detrimental effect on sound-induced flash illusion. Conclusions: Transmission velocity and neural transduction rate of the auditory inputs decreased in patients with hearing loss. Hence, the integrating auditory and visual sensory cannot be combined completely. Although the transmission rate of the auditory sense input was approximately normal when the hearing aid was prescribed. Thus, it can be concluded that the processing delay in the hearing aid circuit is insufficient to disrupt the integration of auditory and visual information.

• Clinical and Experimental Otorhinolaryngology
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• 제11권4호
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• pp.267-274
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• 2018

Objectives. Two main digital signal processing technologies inside the modern hearing aid to provide the best conditions for hearing aid users are directionality (DIR) and digital noise reduction (DNR) algorithms. There are various possible settings for these algorithms. The present study evaluates the effects of various DIR and DNR conditions (both separately and in combination) on listening comfort among hearing aid users. Methods. In 18 participants who received hearing aid fitting services from the Rehabilitation School of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences regularly, we applied acceptable noise level (ANL) as our subjective measure of listening comfort. We evaluated both of these under six different hearing aid conditions: omnidirectional-baseline, omnidirectional-broadband DNR, omnidirectional-multichannel DNR, directional, directional-broadband DNR, and directional-multichannel DNR. Results. The ANL results ranged from -3 dB to 14 dB in all conditions. The results show, among all conditions, both the omnidirectional-baseline condition and the omnidirectional-broadband DNR condition are the worst conditions for listening in noise. The DIR always reduces the amount of noise that patients received during testing. The DNR algorithm does not improve listening in noise significantly when compared with the DIR algorithms. Although both DNR and DIR algorithms yielded a lower ANL, the DIR algorithm was more effective than the DNR. Conclusion. The DIR and DNR technologies provide listening comfort in the presence of noise. Thus, user benefit depends on how the digital signal processing settings inside the hearing aid are adjusted.

• 대한의용생체공학회:의공학회지
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• 제27권5호
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• pp.282-290
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• 2006

We have developed a multi band digital hearing aid algorithm emphasizing feedback cancellation and a hardware module to evaluate the performance of our algorithm. The hearing aids should be able to compensate for individual hearing loss characteristics of hearing impaired person. Thus hearing aids need the function of multi-bands amplification and the capabilities of feedback cancellation that can remove howling caused by acoustic feedback. In this paper, we proposed a digital hearing aid algorithm which has multi-bands compensation using modified discrete cosine transform (MDCT) and can efficiently remove acoustic feedbacks. Moreover, we have developed digital hearing aid hardware module, which can evaluate hearing aid algorithms in real time operation. The developed algorithm and hardware module were verified through computer simulation and clinical tests. Through operational experiments, good performances in real time operation environment and an efficient howling cancellation were also observed. The developed hardware module can operate in stable condition and it is expected to become a good hardware platform for developing hearing aid algorithms.

• 한국음향학회지
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• 제31권6호
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• pp.367-372
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• 2012

본 논문은 64채널 디지털 보청기를 위한 소음 차폐 알고리즘을 소개한다. 125 Hz에서 8000 Hz 주파수 대역 사이에서 64채널을 위해, 125 Hz의 주파수 분해도를 유지하였다. 사람의 달팽이관과 유사한 스펙트럼 차폐 처리 효과를 보청기 소음 감쇠 처리 알고리즘에 적용하였다. 이론적 알고리즘은 어셈블러 언어의 프로그램 소프트웨어로 변환하여 디지털 보청기용 DSP IC 칩으로 이식하였다. 일부 소음 차폐 프로그램 코드를 보여주며 설명하였고, 실시간으로 소음 처리 되는 결과를 전기음향 실험에 의해 증명하였다.

• 센서학회지
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• 제22권2호
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• pp.150-155
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• 2013

Recently, various hearing aids are developed to overcome hearing loss. There are available hearing aids, such as air conduction hearing aid, implantable middle ear hearing aid and so on. But air conduction hearing aid is inconvenience caused by howling, and ossicle chain driving type implantable middle ear hearing aid has some week point due to problem of possible nercobiosis of coupling spot along incus long process. In recent years, in order to improve these shortcomings round window (RW) driving hearing aid has been paying attention. In this paper, the physical cochlear model is proposed for a performance evaluation of the RW driving hearing aids of a transducer. In order to verify an experiment proposed on a performance of physical cochlear model, the transducer which has ossicles characteristics is used. By measuring and comparing the frequency characteristics of transducer with ossicles and human temporal bone, performance of physical cochlear model was verified. As from the result of experiment, it is expected that an implemented cochlear model is useful for evaluating characteristics of RW transducer.

• 대한통합의학회지
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• 제6권3호
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• pp.141-147
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• 2018

Purpose : Aim of the this study was conducted to determine whether hearing aids are responsible for the quality of life by comparing quality of life between the elderly who are suspected of difficulty in hearing selected by Hearing Handicap Inventory of Elderly (HHIE) without using hearing aids and who are using hearing aids. Methods : For the study, two groups of 33 people were analyzed for independent t-test based on whether they wore Hearing Aids (HA) or not whom wearing hearing aids (hearing aids users) and suspected difficulty in hearing. who are attending the Religious organization Senior Welfare Center in the OO region. Result : The quality of life of hearing aid users is generally observed to be higher than that of non-users in general, and by the section, psychological (p=0.019) and living environment (p=0.032) were appeared statistically signigicant. The elderly showed a significant difference. In the section, "Operation Satisfaction (p=0.038)" in the physical health area, "relationship of reason (p=0.018)" in the social relationship area, "Economic margin (p=0.021)" in the environmental area, "Information accessibility (p=0.020)", In the psychological area, hearing aid was used for "self satisfaction (p=0.033)", "concentration of work (p=0.045)". Conclusion : The use of hearing aids by hearing loss elderly improves the quality of life in the psychological health and living environment section.

• 대한의용생체공학회:의공학회지
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• 제17권4호
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• pp.535-544
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• 1996

In this paper, we analyzed the coil-magnet type vibrating transducer for the implantable middle ear hearing aid which is appropriate for patient's hearing level, and an experimental transducer system is designed For the objective and quantitative analysis of the transducer, a theoretical equivalent model containing coil, magneto and inner ear is developed To perform effective evaluation of the transducer, a transforming ratio Tr is introduced and its range that is suitable for practical implantable middle ear hearing device is foun4 The result of applying physical parameters of ear system to the proposed analytical model shows that frequency response of the coil magrlet type vibrator is predominantly governed by resistive impedance of the coil rather than inertia effect of the magnet and the inner parameters. In addition, we realized an experimental middle ear hearing aid system to show the theoretical validity of designed system and this will provide the basis of the development for actually implantable system.

• 대한의용생체공학회:의공학회지
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• 제26권3호
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• pp.177-184
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• 2005

In this paper, we proposed a new hearing aid algorithm to improve SNR(signal to noise ratio) of noisy speech signal and speech perception. The proposed hearing aid algorithm is a multi-band loudness compensation based independent component analysis (ICA). The proposed algorithm was compared with a conventional spectral subtraction algorithm on behind-the-ear type hearing aid. The proposed algorithm successfully separated a target speech signal from background noise and from a mixture of the speech signals. The algorithms were compared each other by means of SNR. The average improvement of SNR by ICA based algorithm was 16.64dB, whereas spectral subtraction algorithm was 8.67dB. From the clinical tests, we concluded that our proposed algorithm would help hearing aid user to hear clearly a target speech in noisy conditions.