Listening through hearing aids affects spatial perception and speech intelligibility in normal-hearing listeners

Jens Cubick; Jörg M. Buchholz; Virginia Best; Mathieu Lavandier; Torsten Dau

doi:10.1121/1.5078582

Listening through hearing aids affects spatial perception and speech intelligibility in normal-hearing listeners

Jens Cubick, Jörg M. Buchholz, Virginia Best, Mathieu Lavandier, Torsten Dau

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

27 Citations (Scopus)

85 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Cubick and Dau [(2016). Acta Acust. Acust. 102, 547-557] showed that speech reception thresholds (SRTs) in noise, obtained with normal-hearing listeners, were significantly higher with hearing aids (HAs) than without. Some listeners reported a change in their spatial perception of the stimuli due to the HA processing, with auditory images often being broader and closer to the head or even internalized. The current study investigated whether worse speech intelligibility with HAs might be explained by distorted spatial perception and the resulting reduced ability to spatially segregate the target speech from the interferers. SRTs were measured in normal-hearing listeners with or without HAs in the presence of three interfering talkers or speech-shaped noises. Furthermore, listeners were asked to sketch their spatial perception of the acoustic scene. Consistent with the previous study, SRTs increased with HAs. Spatial release from masking was lower with HAs than without. The effects were similar for noise and speech maskers and appeared to be accounted for by changes to energetic masking. This interpretation was supported by results from a binaural speech intelligibility model. Even though the sketches indicated a change of spatial perception with HAs, no direct link between spatial perception and segregation of talkers could be shown.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	2896-2905
Number of pages	10
Journal	Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
Volume	144
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1121/1.5078582
Publication status	Published - Nov 2018

Bibliographical note

Copyright the Author(s) 2018. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

Access to Document

10.1121/1.5078582Licence: CC BY

Publisher version (open access)Final published version, 1.32 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

@article{7665491f07bf401aa10aa2034062d9d8,

title = "Listening through hearing aids affects spatial perception and speech intelligibility in normal-hearing listeners",

abstract = "Cubick and Dau [(2016). Acta Acust. Acust. 102, 547-557] showed that speech reception thresholds (SRTs) in noise, obtained with normal-hearing listeners, were significantly higher with hearing aids (HAs) than without. Some listeners reported a change in their spatial perception of the stimuli due to the HA processing, with auditory images often being broader and closer to the head or even internalized. The current study investigated whether worse speech intelligibility with HAs might be explained by distorted spatial perception and the resulting reduced ability to spatially segregate the target speech from the interferers. SRTs were measured in normal-hearing listeners with or without HAs in the presence of three interfering talkers or speech-shaped noises. Furthermore, listeners were asked to sketch their spatial perception of the acoustic scene. Consistent with the previous study, SRTs increased with HAs. Spatial release from masking was lower with HAs than without. The effects were similar for noise and speech maskers and appeared to be accounted for by changes to energetic masking. This interpretation was supported by results from a binaural speech intelligibility model. Even though the sketches indicated a change of spatial perception with HAs, no direct link between spatial perception and segregation of talkers could be shown.",

author = "Jens Cubick and Buchholz, {J{\"o}rg M.} and Virginia Best and Mathieu Lavandier and Torsten Dau",

note = "Copyright the Author(s) 2018. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher. ",

year = "2018",

month = nov,

doi = "10.1121/1.5078582",

language = "English",

volume = "144",

pages = "2896--2905",

journal = "Journal of the Acoustical Society of America",

issn = "0001-4966",

publisher = "AIP Publishing LLC",

number = "5",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Listening through hearing aids affects spatial perception and speech intelligibility in normal-hearing listeners

AU - Cubick, Jens

AU - Buchholz, Jörg M.

AU - Best, Virginia

AU - Lavandier, Mathieu

AU - Dau, Torsten

N1 - Copyright the Author(s) 2018. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

PY - 2018/11

Y1 - 2018/11

N2 - Cubick and Dau [(2016). Acta Acust. Acust. 102, 547-557] showed that speech reception thresholds (SRTs) in noise, obtained with normal-hearing listeners, were significantly higher with hearing aids (HAs) than without. Some listeners reported a change in their spatial perception of the stimuli due to the HA processing, with auditory images often being broader and closer to the head or even internalized. The current study investigated whether worse speech intelligibility with HAs might be explained by distorted spatial perception and the resulting reduced ability to spatially segregate the target speech from the interferers. SRTs were measured in normal-hearing listeners with or without HAs in the presence of three interfering talkers or speech-shaped noises. Furthermore, listeners were asked to sketch their spatial perception of the acoustic scene. Consistent with the previous study, SRTs increased with HAs. Spatial release from masking was lower with HAs than without. The effects were similar for noise and speech maskers and appeared to be accounted for by changes to energetic masking. This interpretation was supported by results from a binaural speech intelligibility model. Even though the sketches indicated a change of spatial perception with HAs, no direct link between spatial perception and segregation of talkers could be shown.

AB - Cubick and Dau [(2016). Acta Acust. Acust. 102, 547-557] showed that speech reception thresholds (SRTs) in noise, obtained with normal-hearing listeners, were significantly higher with hearing aids (HAs) than without. Some listeners reported a change in their spatial perception of the stimuli due to the HA processing, with auditory images often being broader and closer to the head or even internalized. The current study investigated whether worse speech intelligibility with HAs might be explained by distorted spatial perception and the resulting reduced ability to spatially segregate the target speech from the interferers. SRTs were measured in normal-hearing listeners with or without HAs in the presence of three interfering talkers or speech-shaped noises. Furthermore, listeners were asked to sketch their spatial perception of the acoustic scene. Consistent with the previous study, SRTs increased with HAs. Spatial release from masking was lower with HAs than without. The effects were similar for noise and speech maskers and appeared to be accounted for by changes to energetic masking. This interpretation was supported by results from a binaural speech intelligibility model. Even though the sketches indicated a change of spatial perception with HAs, no direct link between spatial perception and segregation of talkers could be shown.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85057060906&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1121/1.5078582

DO - 10.1121/1.5078582

M3 - Article

C2 - 30522291

AN - SCOPUS:85057060906

SN - 0001-4966

VL - 144

SP - 2896

EP - 2905

JO - Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

JF - Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

IS - 5

ER -

Listening through hearing aids affects spatial perception and speech intelligibility in normal-hearing listeners

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this