Measurement of hearing aid internal noise.
Hearing aid equivalent input noise (EIN) measures assume the primary source of internal noise to be located prior to amplification and to be constant regardless of input level. EIN will underestimate internal noise in the case that noise is generated following amplification. The present study investigated the internal noise levels of six hearing aids (HAs). Concurrent with HA processing of a speech-like stimulus with both adaptive features (acoustic feedback cancellation, digital noise reduction, microphone directionality) enabled and disabled, internal noise was quantified for various stimulus levels as the variance across repeated trials. Changes in noise level as a function of stimulus level demonstrated that (1) generation of internal noise is not isolated to the microphone, (2) noise may be dependent on input level, and (3) certain adaptive features may contribute to internal noise. Quantifying internal noise as the variance of the output measures allows for noise to be measured under real-world processing conditions, accounts for all sources of noise, and is predictive of internal noise audibility.
Lewis
James D
JD
Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, USA. james-lewis@uiowa.edu
Goodman
Shawn S
SS
Bentler
Ruth A
RA
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000465:Algorithms; D004867:Equipment Design; D006310:Hearing Aids; D008422:Materials Testing; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009622:Noise; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D013018:Sound Spectrography