High-frequency amplification and sound quality in listeners with normal through moderate hearing loss.
@article{Ricketts2008HighfrequencyAA,
title={High-frequency amplification and sound quality in listeners with normal through moderate hearing loss.},
author={Todd A. Ricketts and Andrew B. Dittberner and Earl E. Johnson},
journal={Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR},
year={2008},
volume={51 1},
pages={
160-72
}
}PURPOSE
One factor that has been shown to greatly affect sound quality is audible bandwidth. Provision of gain for frequencies above 4-6 kHz has not generally been supported for groups of hearing aid wearers. The purpose of this study was to determine if preference for bandwidth extension in hearing aid processed sounds was related to the magnitude of hearing loss in individual listeners.
METHOD
Ten participants with normal hearing and 20 participants with mild-to-moderate hearing loss…
94 Citations
Speech recognition, loudness, and preference with extended bandwidth hearing aids for adult hearing aid users
- PhysicsInternational journal of audiology
- 2020
The results suggest that providing the maximum bandwidth available with modern hearing aids fitted with DSL v5.0, using targets from 0.25 to 8 kHz, can be beneficial for the tested population.
Spectro-Temporal Characteristics of Speech at High Frequencies, and the Potential for Restoration of Audibility to People with Mild-to-Moderate Hearing Loss
- PhysicsEar and hearing
- 2008
To partially restore audibility for a hearing loss of 65 dB at 10 kHz would require an effective insertion gain of about 36 dB at10 kHz, and with this gain, audibility could be (partly) restored for 25 of the 62 ears assessed.
Sound Quality Ratings of Amplified Speech and Music Using a Direct Drive Hearing Aid: Effects of Bandwidth
- PhysicsOtology & neurotology : official publication of the American Otological Society, American Neurotology Society [and] European Academy of Otology and Neurotology
- 2020
The direct drive system provides higher sound quality of both speech and music compared to narrowband conditions, and stimuli with specific high-frequency content were rated with higher soundquality when additional high- frequency energy was present.
Paired comparisons of nonlinear frequency compression, extended bandwidth, and restricted bandwidth hearing aid processing for children and adults with hearing loss.
- Psychology, MedicineJournal of the American Academy of Audiology
- 2014
Preference for EBW can be limited for those with greater degrees of hearing loss, but participants with greater hearing loss may be more likely to prefer NFC.
Preliminary evaluation of a method for fitting hearing aids with extended bandwidth
- Computer Science, MedicineInternational journal of audiology
- 2010
A preliminary laboratory-based evaluation of a method for fitting hearing aids with an extended high-frequency response, called CAMEQ2-HF, showed gains were sufficient to make components above 5 kHz audible when those components were presented alone, and when they were presented together with the lower-frequency components.
Effects of Bandwidth, Compression Speed, and Gain at High Frequencies on Preferences for Amplified Music
- PhysicsTrends in amplification
- 2012
A system for reducing “overshoot” effects produced by compression gave small but significant benefits for sound quality of a percussion instrument (xylophone) for a high-input level and slow compression was preferred over fast compression.
Listening Effort and Speech Recognition with Frequency Compression Amplification for Children and Adults with Hearing Loss
- PsychologyJournal of the American Academy of Audiology
- 2017
Both adults and children demonstrated improved speech recognition with access to the high‐frequency sounds in speech.
Spatial Separation Benefit for Unaided and Aided Listening
- Physics, MedicineEar and hearing
- 2014
Older adults with hearing loss using bilateral hearing aids were able to take advantage of binaural cues to improve consonant recognition in noise, and Articulation Index predictions revealed that speech audibility was generally restored with hearing aids across a wide bandwidth of speech, especially in the far ear.
Detection, Speech Recognition, Loudness, and Preference Outcomes With a Direct Drive Hearing Aid: Effects of Bandwidth
- PhysicsTrends in hearing
- 2021
A significant improvement was found in high-frequency consonant detection and recognition, as well as for speech in noise performance in the full versus narrow bandwidth conditions for listeners with hearing loss while fitted with a direct drive hearing aid system.
Perceived Sound Quality Dimensions Influencing Frequency-Gain Shaping Preferences for Hearing Aid-Amplified Speech and Music
- PhysicsTrends in hearing
- 2021
This study explored preferred frequency-gain shaping relative to prescribed gain for speech and music samples and generally support the use of prescribed amplification to optimize speech intelligibility and alternative amplification for music listening for most listeners.
References
SHOWING 1-10 OF 52 REFERENCES
Amplification bandwidth and intelligibility of speech in quiet and noise for listeners with sensorineural hearing loss.
- PhysicsAudiology : official organ of the International Society of Audiology
- 1983
The intelligibility of speech mixed with noise and in quiet was measured as a function of its audible bandwidth for 7 listeners with moderate sensorineural hearing losses and the listener's ability to understand the words, after adjustment for individual differences, was well correlated with the articulation index.
Effects of low pass filtering on the intelligibility of speech in noise for people with and without dead regions at high frequencies.
- PhysicsThe Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
- 2002
Calculations of speech audibility using a modified version of the articulation index showed that application of the Cambridge formula was at least partially successful in making high-frequency components of the speech audible for subjects with dead regions, and that such subjects often failed to benefit from increased audibility of thespeech at high frequencies.
High-frequency audibility: benefits for hearing-impaired listeners.
- PhysicsThe Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
- 1998
There was a clear pattern in the results suggesting that as the degree of hearing loss at a given frequency increased beyond 55 dB HL, the efficacy of providing additional audibility to that frequency region was diminished, especially when this degree of Hearing loss was present at frequencies of 4000 Hz and above.
Evaluation of high-fidelity hearing aids.
- Physics, MedicineJournal of speech and hearing research
- 1982
An essential building block for any high-fidelity hearing aid is an amplifier-transducer-coupling combination that does not audibly degrade the sound, that is, provides high-fidelity sound…
Predictability of the required frequency response characteristic of a hearing aid from the pure-tone audiogram.
- PhysicsEar and hearing
- 1986
It is concluded that it is justifiable to select the frequency response of a hearing aid from the pure-tone audiogram and that an appropriate formula would be more effective than providing a standard frequency response for all clients.
Preference judgments of artificial processed and hearing-aid transduced speech.
- PhysicsThe Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
- 1999
Results showed that normal-hearing subjects generally preferred the original signal, whereas hearing-impaired subjects were inclined to choose the signals with a high-frequency emphasis, as was to be expected.
The effects of hearing loss on the contribution of high- and low-frequency speech information to speech understanding.
- PhysicsThe Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
- 2003
The speech understanding of persons with "flat" hearing loss was compared to a normal-hearing control group to examine how hearing loss affects the contribution of speech information in various frequency regions, and measures of auditory thresholds in noise showed the "effective masking spectrum" of the noise was greater for the HI than the NH subjects.
The effects of hearing loss on the contribution of high- and low-frequency speech information to speech understanding. II. Sloping hearing loss.
- PhysicsThe Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
- 2006
Speech intelligibility index calculations suggest this limited utility was not due simply to reduced audibility but also to the negative effects of high presentation levels and a poorer-than-normal use of speech information in the frequency region with the greatest hearing loss (the HF regions).
Effects of low-pass filtering on the intelligibility of speech in quiet for people with and without dead regions at high frequencies.
- PhysicsThe Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
- 2001
The effect of high-frequency amplification on speech perception for subjects with high- frequencies hearing loss with and without dead regions is examined and the results have important implications for the fitting of hearing aids.
Signal processing to improve speech intelligibility in perceptive deafness.
- PhysicsThe Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
- 1973
In a preliminary experiment it is established that recruitment in normal subjects, induced by masking or simulated by expansion of the signal, reduces the intelligibility of amplified speech severely, and that this intelligibility can be largely restored by signal processing.






