ACCEPTABLE LEVEL OF ACOUSTIC DISTURBANCES TO SPEECH SIGNAL AS A MEASURE OF SUCCESSFUL HEARING AID FITTING
 
More details
Hide details
1
Department of Biophysics, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznan, Poland
 
2
Institute of Acoustics, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland
 
 
Publication date: 2011-09-30
 
 
Corresponding author
Dorota Hojan-Jezierska   

Dorota Hojan-Jezierska, Department of Biophysics, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Fredry 10, 61-701 Poznan, Poland, e-mail: djeziers@ump.edu.pl
 
 
J Hear Sci 2011;1(3):80-82
 
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
A method has been established to measure the maximum acceptable background noise level (BNL) for a listener, while listening to speech at the most comfortable listening level (MCL). The acceptable noise level (ANL) is the difference between BNL and MCL. The ANL procedure was used to measure acceptance of noise in the presence of speech at MCL, that was stated as 65 dB for normal-hearing listeners. There were two groups of normal-hearing listeners treated in two ways. In the first stage of the study, a group of 16 students were exposed to the list of words at the level of 65 dB SPL (MCL). The level of “babble” noise was increased up to the moment when the person declared discomfort. At such level of “babble” noise (BNLX%) the acceptable noise level ANLX%, and the speech intelligibility X% were determined. The aim of the second stage of experiment (for a group of 36 students) was to establish a level of “babble” noise BNLX% (and then the acceptable noise level ANLX%,) at the level of speech intelligibility X% determined in the first task. It was found that the X% determined at the state of discomfort equals 61% for ANL=(19±2) dB. The ANL estimated at the X%=61% is very similar and equals (18±2) dB.
 
REFERENCES (12)
1.
Preis A, Hafke H, Kaczmarek T, Gjestland T: The relationship between speech threshold and the assessment of annoyance caused by different environmental noises. Noise Control Eng J, 2009; 59(4).
 
2.
Nabelek AK, Tucker FM, Letowski TR: Toleration of background noises: Relationship with patterns of hearing aid use by elderly persons. J Speech Hear Res, 1991; 34: 679–85.
 
3.
Krishnamurthy N, Hansen JHL: Babble Noise: Modeling, Analysis, and Applications. Audio, Speech, and Language Processing, IEEE Transactions on. 2009; 17(7): 1394–407.
 
4.
Plyler PN: Acceptance of background noise: Recent developments. The Hearing Journal, 2009; 62(4): 10–17.
 
5.
Nabelek AK, Burchfield SB, Webster JD: Relationship between acceptance of background noise and hearing aid use. Acoustical Society of America Journal, 2003; 113(4): 2289.
 
6.
Nabelek AK, Freyaldenhoven MC, Tampas JW et al: Acceptable noise level as a predictor of hearing use. J Am Acad Audiol, 2006; 17: 626–39.
 
7.
Rogers DS, Harkirder AW, Burchfield SB, Nabelek AK: The influence of listeners gender on the acceptance of background noise. J Am Acad Audiol, 2003; 14: 374–85.
 
8.
Freyaldenhoven MC, Smiley DF, Muenchen RA, Konrad TN: Acceptable noise level: reliability measures and comparison to preference for background sounds. J Am Acad Audiol, 2006; 17(9): 640–48.
 
9.
Habsburg D, Bahng J: Acceptance of background noise levels in bilingual (Korean – English) listeners. J Am Acad Audiol, 2006; 17: 649–58.
 
10.
Mueller HG, Weber J, Hornsby BW: The effects of digital noise reduction on the acceptance of background noise. Trends Ampli, 2006; 10: 1–9.
 
11.
Mejza M: Testing the effectiveness of different methods of hearing aids fitting. Thesis (in Polish). Institute of Acoustics, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland, 2006.
 
12.
Hojan-Jezierska D: Investigation of effectiveness of acoustic signal procedures fitting in hearing aids. Diss. Medical University, Poznan, Poland, 2010.
 
Journals System - logo
Scroll to top