Frequency compression of critical band for digital hearing aids

Proc. of China-Japan Joint Conference on Acoustics, pp. 159-162, Nanjing, 2002

Frequency compression of critical band for digital hearing aids

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

Abstract: The auditory filter of hearing impaired is wider than that of normal hearing people. Thus, the frequency selectivity decreases of increased of masking effects. We have focused on this wider auditory filter shape and developed a method in which the critical band is compressed along the frequency axis. We also implemented a system based on the proposed algorithms using “SIMULINK.” To test our method, we conducted two experiments. The quality and intelligibility of speech sounds were improved in Exp.1. In Exp.2, the articulation score was also improved when frequencies were compressed. There results show the feasibility of frequency compression algorithm for the hearing impaired people.

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