THREE DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSING SCHEMES THAT CAN INFLUENCE SIGNAL QUALITY IN NOISE

ABSTRACT

Reducing the deleterious effects of background noise on speech intelligibility and listening comfort has historically been a challenging goal in hearing aid design and fitting. Today's digital technologies offer for the first time a technical platform that can be used to significantly influence signal perception in noise. This article describes three digital signal processing techniques designed to influence signal penetration of background noise clutter, and summarizes the clinical findings thus far collected to quantify the utility of these approaches. The analytical and signal processing capabilities required for an electronic device to execute these complex sound processing programs underscores the opportunity digital technology affords in bringing ever more sophisticated solutions to the issues associated with hearing impairment.

KEYWORD

Digital signal processing - signal quality - hearing aid