Compensating Cocktail Party Noise with Binaural Spatial Segregation on a Novel Device Targeting Partial Hearing Loss

详细信息    查看全文

• 关键词：Hearing aid ; Disability ; Microphone arrays ; Beamforming ; Binaural ; Real time
• 刊名：Lecture Notes in Computer Science
• 出版年：2016
• 出版时间：2016
• 年：2016
• 卷：9759
• 期：1
• 页码：384-391
• 全文大小：2,502 KB
• 参考文献：1.Haykin, S., Chen, Z.: The cocktail party problem. Neural Comput. 17(9), 1875–1902 (2005)CrossRef
  2.Brimijoin, W.O., McShefferty, D., Akeroyd, M.A.: Auditory and visual orienting responses in listeners with and without hearing-impairment. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 127(6), 3678–3688 (2010)CrossRef
  3.Feuerstein, J.F.: Monaural versus binaural hearing: ease of listening, word recognition, and attentional effort. Ear Hear. 13(2), 80–86 (1992)CrossRef
  4.Bogaert, T., Doclo, S., Wouters, J., Moonen, M.: Speech enhancement with multichannel Wiener filter techniques in multimicrophone binaural hearing aids. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 125(1), 360–371 (2009)CrossRef
  5.Neher, T.: Relating hearing loss and executive functions to hearing aid users’ preference for, and speech recognition with, different combinations of binaural noise reduction and microphone directionality. Front. Neurosci. 8, 391 (2014)CrossRef
  6.Boone, M.M.: Directivity measurements on a highly directive hearing aid: the hearing glasses (2006)
  7.van Hoesel, R.J., Clark, G.M.: Evaluation of a portable two-microphone adaptive beamforming speech processor with cochlear implant patients. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 97(4), 2498–2503 (1995)CrossRef
  8.Froehlich, P.M., Freels, K., Powers, T.A.: Speech recognition benefit obtained from binaural beamforming hearing aids: comparison to omnidirectional and individuals with normal hearing. Audiol. Online 14338, 1–8 (2015)
  9.Kates, J.M., Weiss, M.R.: A comparison of hearing-aid array-processing techniques. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 99(5), 3138–3148 (1996)CrossRef
  10.Widrow, B.: A microphone array for hearing aids. IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. 1(2), 26–32 (2001)
  11.Merks, I.L.D.M.: Binaural application of microphone arrays for improved speech intelligibility in a noisy environment, Ph.D. Thesis (2000)
  12.Mens, L.H.M.: Speech understanding in noise with an eyeglass hearing aid: asymmetric fitting and the head shadow benefit of anterior microphones. Int. J. Audiol. 50(1), 27–33 (2011)CrossRef
  13.Trucco, A., Traverso, F., Crocco, M.: Maximum constrained directivity of oversteered end-fire sensor arrays. Sensors 15(6), 13477–13502 (2015)CrossRef
  14.ISO 8253–3:2012: Acoustics - Audiometric test methods - Speech audiometry (2012)
  15.Bocca, A., Pellegrini, E.: Studio statistico sulla composizione fonetica della lingua italiana e sua applicazione pratica all’audiometria con la parola. Arch. Ital. Otol. Rinol. Laringol. 56(5), 116–141 (1950)
  16.Kato, M., Uematsu, H., Kashino, M., Hirahara, T.: The effect of head motion on the accuracy of sound localization. Acoust. Sci. Technol. 24(5), 315–317 (2003)CrossRef
  17.Moncur, J.P., Dirks, D.D.: Binaural and monaural speech intelligibility in reverberation. J. Speech Hear. Res. 10(2), 186–95 (1967)CrossRef
  
• 作者单位：Luca Giuliani (16)
  Sara Sansalone (17)
  Stefania Repetto (17)
  Federico Traverso (18)
  Luca Brayda (16)
  
  16. Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genoa, Italy
  17. Linear s.r.l., Genoa, Italy
  18. DITEN - University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy
  
• 丛书名：Computers Helping People with Special Needs
• ISBN：978-3-319-41267-2
• 刊物类别：Computer Science
• 刊物主题：Artificial Intelligence and Robotics
  Computer Communication Networks
  Software Engineering
  Data Encryption
  Database Management
  Computation by Abstract Devices
  Algorithm Analysis and Problem Complexity
  
• 出版者：Springer Berlin / Heidelberg
• ISSN：1611-3349
• 卷排序：9759

文摘

The ability of focusing on a single conversation in the middle of a crowded environment is usually referred at as the cocktail party effect. This skill exploits binaural cues and spectral features of a target speaker. Unfortunately, traditional acoustic prostheses tend to modify these cues in ways that the brain cannot recover. Social isolation is an inevitable consequence. In this work we tested the Glassense, an intelligent pair of glasses. Binaural input from microphones arrays is processed to spatially segregate the soundscape surrounding the listener, so that frontal speech sources are preserved, while competing sources from the sides and the back are attenuated, just as an “acoustical lens”. We report an increase in speech intelligibility by about 4 dB, measured as reception threshold, under severe noisy conditions. Our device can be a complementary input to existing acoustic prostheses, aimed at increasing spatial awareness of persons affected by partial hearing loss.