Tolerable delay for speech production and perception: effects of hearing ability and experience with hearing aids.

Objective: Processing delay is one of the important factors that limit the development of novel algorithms for hearing devices. In this study, both normal-hearing listeners and listeners with hearing loss were tested for their tolerance of processing delay up to 50 ms using a real-time setup for own-voice and external-voice conditions based on linear processing to avoid confounding effects of time-dependent gain.

Design: Participants rated their perceived subjective annoyance for each condition on a 7-point Likert scale.