Abstract

This research is directed toward improved speech reception for users of hearing aids. Attempts to advance basic understanding involve study of limitations imposed by characteristics of the speech signal and of the impairment, and the development of models of speech intelligibility that exploits ideas used in automatic speech recognition. Research on the speech signal focuses on understanding the effects of speaking style, specifically the effects of speaking clearly for the hard of hearing, and the effects of intra-speaker and inter-speaker variability on intelligibility. Research on the effects of hearing impairments focuses on developing and testing of techniques for simulating impairments for listeners with normal hearing. The envisioned models of speech intelligibility includes models of perceptual processing, integration of speech cues across frequency bands, and are addressed at understanding the effects of signal properties, hearing impairment, and environmental disturbances (noise and reverberation) on speech reception. Attempts to develop improved signal processing techniques for use in hearing aids involve study of multiban automatic gain control, amplitude compression, and techniques for reducing the effects of feedback in amplification systems.

  Funding Agency

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01DC000117-27
Application #
6634406
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-IFCN-6 (01))
Program Officer
Luethke, Lynn E
Project Start
1976-04-01
Project End
2006-03-31
Budget Start
2003-07-01
Budget End
2006-03-31
Support Year
27
Fiscal Year
2003
Total Cost
$442,568
Indirect Cost

  Institution

Name
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Department
Type
Organized Research Units
DUNS #
001425594
City
Cambridge
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02139

  Publications

Moore, Brian C J; Heinz, Michael G; Braida, Louis D et al. (2018) Effects of age on sensitivity to interaural time differences in envelope and fine structure, individually and in combination. J Acoust Soc Am 143:1287
Desloge, Joseph G; Reed, Charlotte M; Braida, Louis D et al. (2017) Masking release for hearing-impaired listeners: The effect of increased audibility through reduction of amplitude variability. J Acoust Soc Am 141:4452
D'Aquila, Laura A; Desloge, Joseph G; Reed, Charlotte M et al. (2017) Effect of Energy Equalization on the Intelligibility of Speech in Fluctuating Background Interference for Listeners With Hearing Impairment. Trends Hear 21:2331216517710354
Reed, Charlotte M; Desloge, Joseph G; Braida, Louis D et al. (2016) Level variations in speech: Effect on masking release in hearing-impaired listeners. J Acoust Soc Am 140:102
Ranjbar, Parivash; Wilson, E Courtenay; Reed, Charlotte M et al. (2016) Auditory-Tactile integration: Effects of Phase of Sinusoidal Stimulation at 50 and 250 Hz. Int J Eng Technol Sci Innov 1:209-229
Léger, Agnès C; Desloge, Joseph G; Braida, Louis D et al. (2015) The role of recovered envelope cues in the identification of temporal-fine-structure speech for hearing-impaired listeners. J Acoust Soc Am 137:505-8
Léger, Agnès C; Reed, Charlotte M; Desloge, Joseph G et al. (2015) Consonant identification in noise using Hilbert-transform temporal fine-structure speech and recovered-envelope speech for listeners with normal and impaired hearing. J Acoust Soc Am 138:389-403
Léger, Agnès C; Ives, David T; Lorenzi, Christian (2014) Abnormal intelligibility of speech in competing speech and in noise in a frequency region where audiometric thresholds are near-normal for hearing-impaired listeners. Hear Res 316:102-9
Desloge, Joseph G; Reed, Charlotte M; Braida, Louis D et al. (2014) Auditory and tactile gap discrimination by observers with normal and impaired hearing. J Acoust Soc Am 135:838-50
Goldsworthy, Raymond L; Delhorne, Lorraine A; Desloge, Joseph G et al. (2014) Two-microphone spatial filtering provides speech reception benefits for cochlear implant users in difficult acoustic environments. J Acoust Soc Am 136:867-76

Showing the most recent 10 out of 46 publications