A parametric spatial-audio processing technique is applied to bilaterally-fitted hearing aids. Two microphones in each device are used to estimate the direction of arrival and diffuseness of sound in each time-frequency position. This data is associated to the corresponding positions of a microphone signal from each device, and the signal is subsequently amplified or attenuated to filter sound depending on direction, or to suppress ambient sounds. Such processing is shown to produce a comparable advantage in speech reception threshold than with traditional techniques, but with a lower full-duplex transmission data rate between the devices having value of about 104 kbit/s.

Authors: Ahonen, Jukka; Sivonen, Ville; Pulkki, Ville
Affiliations: Aalto University, Espoo, Finland; Cochlear Nordic AB, Helsinki, Finland; Akukon Ltd., Helsinki, Finland(See document for exact affiliation information.)
AES Conference: 45th International Conference: Applications of Time-Frequency Processing in Audio (March 2012)
Paper Number: 3-10
Publication Date: March 1, 2012 Import into BibTeX
Permalink: https://www.aes.org/e-lib/browse.cfm?elib=16202

Click to purchase paper as a non-member or login as an AES member. If your company or school subscribes to the E-Library then switch to the institutional version. If you are not an AES member and would like to subscribe to the E-Library then Join the AES!

This paper costs $33 for non-members and is free for AES members and E-Library subscribers.

Learn more about the AES E-Library

E-Library Location: (CD 45thPapers)   /conf/45/aes45-000055.pdf

Start a discussion about this paper!