SoftVoice Improves Speech Recognition and Reduces Listening Effort in Cochlear Implant Users.

Objectives: The ability to perceive soft speech by cochlear implant (CI) users is restricted in part by the inherent system noise produced by the speech processor, and in particular by the microphone(s). The algorithm "SoftVoice" (SV) was developed by Advanced Bionics to enhance the perception of soft speech by reducing the system noise in speech processors. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of SV on speech recognition and listening effort.

Perceptual and Model-Based Evaluation of Ideal Time-Frequency Noise Reduction in Hearing-Impaired Listeners.

State-of-the-art hearing aids (HAs) try to overcome the deficit of poor speech intelligibility (SI) in noisy listening environments using digital noise reduction (NR) techniques. The application of time-frequency masks to the noisy sound input is a common NR technique to increase SI. The binary mask with its binary weights and the Wiener filter with continuous weights are representatives of a hard- and a soft-decision approach for time-frequency masking.

Speech onset enhancement improves intelligibility in adverse listening conditions for cochlear implant users.

Speech perception by cochlear implant (CI) users can be very good in quiet but their speech intelligibility (SI) performance decreases in noisy environments. Because recent studies have shown that transient parts of the speech envelope are most important for SI in normal-hearing (NH) listeners, the enhanced envelope (EE) strategy was developed to emphasize onset cues of the speech envelope in the CI signal processing chain. The influence of enhancement of the onsets of the speech envelope on SI was investigated with CI users for speech in stationary speech-shaped noise (SSN) and with an interfering talker.

Comparison of Psychophysical and Physical Measurements of Real Ear to Coupler Differences.

Objectives: The purpose of the study is to compare real ear to coupler difference (RECD) curves based on physical and psychophysical measures. For the physically measured RECD, the RECD was measured with real ear and coupler measurements for the ear simulator and HA1- and HA2 2-cc couplers. The psychophysically measured RECDs were derived from audiogram measures.

Ideal time-frequency masking algorithms lead to different speech intelligibility and quality in normal-hearing and cochlear implant listeners.

Hearing impaired listeners using cochlear implants (CIs) suffer from a decrease in speech intelligibility (SI) in adverse listening conditions. Time-frequency masks are often applied to perform noise suppression in an attempt to increase SI. Two important masks are the so-called ideal binary mask (IBM) with its binary weights and the ideal Wiener filter (IWF) with its continuous weights.

Development and validation of the Leuven intelligibility sentence test with male speaker (LIST-m).

Objective: In addition to the LIST with a female speaker ( van Wieringen & Wouters, 2008 ), a new speech perception test with a male voice was developed and validated, for evaluating the intelligibility performance of cochlear implant (CI) users or severely hearing-impaired persons.

Design: Three experimental steps were carried out: (1) a perceptual optimization of the recorded materials, (2) an evaluation in normal-hearing (NH) listeners, and (3) a validation in CI-users. Measurements were performed both in quiet and in noise.

The potential of onset enhancement for increased speech intelligibility in auditory prostheses.

Recent studies have shown that transient parts of a speech signal contribute most to speech intelligibility in normal-hearing listeners. In this study, the influence of enhancing the onsets of the envelope of the speech signal on speech intelligibility in noisy conditions using an eight channel cochlear implant vocoder simulation was investigated. The enhanced envelope (EE) strategy emphasizes the onsets of the speech envelope by deriving an additional peak signal at the onsets in each frequency band.