1. Real-Time Multirate Multiband Amplification for Hearing Aids
- Author
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Sokolova, Alice, Sengupta, Dhiman, Hunt, Martin, Gupta, Rajesh, Aksanli, Baris, Harris, Fredric, and Garudadri, Harinath
- Subjects
Information and Computing Sciences ,Computer Vision and Multimedia Computation ,Assistive Technology ,Bioengineering ,Ear ,Hearing aids ,digital signal processing ,auditory system ,channelization ,wearable computers ,speech processing ,open source hardware ,real-time systems ,embedded software ,research initiatives ,Engineering ,Technology ,Information and computing sciences - Abstract
Hearing loss is a common problem affecting the quality of life for thousands of people. However, many individuals with hearing loss are dissatisfied with the quality of modern hearing aids. Amplification is the main method of compensating for hearing loss in modern hearing aids. One common amplification technique is dynamic range compression, which maps audio signals onto a person's hearing range using an amplification curve. However, due to the frequency dependent nature of the human cochlea, compression is often performed independently in different frequency bands. This paper presents a real-time multirate multiband amplification system for hearing aids, which includes a multirate channelizer for separating an audio signal into eleven standard audiometric frequency bands, and an automatic gain control system for accurate control of the steady state and dynamic behavior of audio compression as specified by ANSI standards. The spectral channelizer offers high frequency resolution with low latency of 5.4 ms and about 14× improvement in complexity over a baseline design. Our automatic gain control includes a closed-form solution for satisfying any designated attack and release times for any desired compression parameters. The increased frequency resolution and precise gain adjustment allow our system to more accurately fulfill audiometric hearing aid prescriptions.
- Published
- 2022