Critical-band compression method for digital hearing aids

Proc. of the Forum Acusticum Sevilla, 2002

Critical-band compression method for digital hearing aids

K. Yasu, K. Kobayashi, K. Shinohara, M. Hishitani, T. Arai and Y. Murahara

Abstract: A new method of processing speech for digital hearing aids was proposed. In this method, each critical band was compressed along the frequency axis. To implement this, we tested two algorithms based on a filter bank (FB) approach and the fast Fourier transform (FFT). Five profoundly hearing-impaired subjects participated in a perceptual experiment. In both FB-based and FFT-based approaches, we confirmed that the processed speech became more intelligible and clearer for the subjects when using our method with the compression rate of 50%-80%. We also discussed the feasibility of implementing a real-time simulation system using “Simulink”.

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