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Abstract
This investigation assessed the extent to which listeners’ preferences for hearing aid microphone polar patterns vary across listening environments, and whether normal-hearing and inexperienced and experienced hearing-impaired listeners differ in such preferences. Paired-comparison judgments of speech clarity (i.e. subjective speech intelligibility) were made monaurally for recordings of speech in noise processed by a commercially available hearing aid programmed with an omnidirectional and two directional polar patterns (cardioid and hypercardioid). Testing environments included a sound-treated room, a living room, and a classroom. Polar-pattern preferences were highly reliable and agreed closely across all three groups of listeners. All groups preferred listening in the sound-treated room over listening in the living room, and preferred listening in the living room over listening in the classroom. Each group preferred the directional patterns to the omnidirectional pattern in all room conditions. We observed no differences in preference judgments between the two directional patterns or between hearing-impaired listeners’ extent of amplification experience. Overall, findings indicate that listeners perceived qualitative benefits from microphones having directional polar patterns.
| Acronyms | ||
| AI-DI | = | articulation index-directivity index |
| DI | = | directivity index |
| DMHA | = | directional microphone hearing aid |
| Group HI-E | = | hearing-impaired participants with ≥1 year of amplification experience |
| Group HI-I | = | hearing-impaired participants with ≤3 months of amplification experience |
| Group NH | = | normal-hearing participants |
| KEMAR | = | Knowles Electronics Manikin for Acoustic Research |
| ODHA | = | omnidirectional microphone hearing aid |
| RSIR | = | Revised Speech Intelligibility Rating test |
| RT | = | reverberation time |
| SNR | = | signal-to-noise ratio |
| Acronyms | ||
| AI-DI | = | articulation index-directivity index |
| DI | = | directivity index |
| DMHA | = | directional microphone hearing aid |
| Group HI-E | = | hearing-impaired participants with ≥1 year of amplification experience |
| Group HI-I | = | hearing-impaired participants with ≤3 months of amplification experience |
| Group NH | = | normal-hearing participants |
| KEMAR | = | Knowles Electronics Manikin for Acoustic Research |
| ODHA | = | omnidirectional microphone hearing aid |
| RSIR | = | Revised Speech Intelligibility Rating test |
| RT | = | reverberation time |
| SNR | = | signal-to-noise ratio |
Sumario
Esta investigación evaluó el grado en el que varían las preferencias del usuario en cuanto a los patrones polares microfónicos de un auxiliar auditivo en diferentes ambientes sonoro. También evaluó si existen diferencias en dichas preferencias entre sujetos normoyentes y sujetos hipoacúsicos con y sin experiencia en el uso de auxiliares auditivos. Se realizaron juicios comparativos en pares sobre la claridad del lenguaje (p.e., inteligibilidad subjetiva del lenguaje) en forma monoaural, utilizando grabaciones de lenguaje en ruido procesado por auxiliares auditivos disponibles comercialmente, y programados con dos patrones polares direccionales y un patrón omnidireccional (cardioide e hipercardioide). Los ambientes de evaluación incluyeron una cabina sonoamortiguada, una sala de estar y un aula de clase. Las preferencias de patrón polar fueron altamente confiables y muy parecidas entre los tres grupos de sujetos. Los tres grupos prefirieron escuchar en la cabina sonoamortiguada que en la sala de estar, y en la sala de estar más que en el aula de clase. Cada grupo prefirió los patrones direccionales sobre el omnidireccional en todos los ambientes. No observamos diferencias en las preferencias entre los dos patrones direccionales o con respecto a la diferencia de experiencia en el uso de amplificación en los sujetos hipoacúsicos. Al final, los hallazgos indican que los sujetos percibieron los beneficios cualitativos de los micrófonos con patrones polares direccionales.