Adaptive Parametric Noise for Hearing Aid Speech Intelligibility
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional hearing aids use dynamic range compression, which reduces speech intelligibility in noisy environments and fails to effectively manage loudness growth, leading to uncomfortable loud speech and inaudible soft speech, particularly in conductive and sensorineural hearing loss cases.
Innovation Solution
An audio system that employs adaptive parametrically formulated noise, which measures audio signal energy across various frequency bands and adjusts noise levels to enhance speech intelligibility by reducing noise interference and controlling loudness growth without using dynamic range compression.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If dynamic range compression is used to amplify soft speech, then soft speech becomes audible, but loud speech becomes uncomfortably loud and speech intelligibility decreases in noisy environments
Solution Approach 1:
The audio signal is divided into multiple frequency bands (e.g., low, mid, high frequencies) and processed independently. Different compression ratios or noise reduction algorithms are applied to each band, allowing optimization for speech intelligibility in specific frequency ranges while preserving natural sound quality in others.
Solution Approach 2:
Different processing strategies are applied to different parts of the audio signal based on local characteristics. For example, aggressive noise reduction is applied only to frequency bands where noise dominates, while speech-dominated bands receive minimal processing to preserve intelligibility and natural quality.
2Reliability
If complex noise reduction circuitry is used to mitigate signal-to-noise compression, then noise reduction performance improves, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The noise reduction system dynamically adapts its processing based on real-time analysis of the audio signal characteristics. Compression ratios, noise thresholds, and processing intensity are continuously adjusted according to the detected speech and noise levels in different frequency bands, providing effective noise reduction without requiring overly complex fixed circuitry.
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates feedback loops that continuously monitor the output signal quality and noise levels, automatically adjusting processing parameters to optimize speech intelligibility while minimizing artifacts. This closed-loop control achieves effective noise reduction with simpler circuitry compared to open-loop complex systems.
Data Source
AI summary
In one embodiment, an audio system can generate a parametrically formulated noise signal which can be adaptively reconfigured according to an input signal. According to an embodiment, an audio system can adaptively adjust a parametrically formulated noise signal according to environmental noise detected by the audio system. According to an embodiment, an audio system can present an adaptive level of activation energy in the presence of environmental noise such that a substantially constant and sufficient level of activation energy can be presented to an individual's auditory system such that additional sound energy corresponding to speech can become audible and intelligible to the individual.