Evaluation of the perceived audio quality of hearing aids.

Abstract

The higher cultural and social level of people affected by hypoacusis, leads to a growth of the request of high quality hearing aid systems: to achieve this quality enhancement, the evolution of technologies in the hearing aid and audiometric fields is moving towards the digital world. Even if digital audio prosthesis are not new, the algorithms for the enhancement of speech quality and intelligibility are always being improved. We propose a methodology for the evaluation of the perceived quality of hearing aids: the simulation of a real two-dimensional soundscape is done using a quadraphonic loudspeaker array, then a speech signal (extracted from the Italian Audiometric Vocal Audio Archive) is reproduced from a single loudspeaker placed in different positions around the virtual soundscape, and everything is recorded through a Dummy Head microphone system with hearing aids placed on the two ears. The analysis of the signal recorded in these simulations is carried out through a complex comparison of various parameters extracted from the signals in output from the Dummy Head microphone and from the hearing aids.