| Project/Area Number |
06557089
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 試験 |
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| Research Field |
Otorhinolaryngology
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| Research Institution | Tohoku University |
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Principal Investigator |
SONE Toshio Research Institute of Electrical Communication, Tohoku University, Proffessor, 電気通信研究所, 教授 (50005245)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
ASANO Futoshi Electrical Technical Laboratory, Tohoku University, Technician, 通産技師 (00231895)
OZAWA Kenji Research Institute of Electrical Communication, Tohoku University, Research Asso, 電気通信研究所, 助手 (30204192)
KAWASE Tetsuaki Hospital of School of Medicine, Tohoku University, Lecturer, 医学部付属病院, 講師 (50169728)
SUZUKI Yoiti Research Institute of Electrical Communication, Tohoku University, Associate Pro, 電気通信研究所, 助教授 (20143034)
TAKASAKA Tomonori School of Medicine, Tohoku University, Professor, 医学部, 教授 (80004646)
池田 勝久 東北大学, 医学部, 助教授 (70159614)
小林 俊光 東北大学, 医学部, 助教授 (80133958)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1994 – 1996
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| Project Status |
Completed (Fiscal Year 1996)
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| Budget Amount *help |
¥11,100,000 (Direct Cost: ¥11,100,000)
Fiscal Year 1996: ¥1,200,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000)
Fiscal Year 1995: ¥4,500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥4,500,000)
Fiscal Year 1994: ¥5,400,000 (Direct Cost: ¥5,400,000)
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| Keywords | digital hearing aids / recruitment / loudness / loudness compensation / categorical scaling method / digital signal processing / fitting / hearing aids fitting / 補聴器 / 騒音抑圧 / 衝撃音抑圧 / ハウリング抑圧 / 2段階評定尺度法 |
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| Research Abstract |
The algorithm compensating for loudness recruitment was installed in portable digital hearing aids that were custom-made for this study, and its performance was evaluated in daily lives. The loudness compensation function was set to be linear for lower input levels, so that spectral subtraction was achieved to suppress environmental or background noise. Though digital hearing aids have the merit of flexibility in their characteristics, it often takes relatively long time for fitting. Thus, methods for estimating accurate loudness-compensation function efficiently were also studied. As the result of the study, it has been shown that the subdivided one-step categorical scaling method is the best method for the present purpose.
On the basis of these results, loudness compensation functions were measured for more than one hundred impaired-listeners, and the fitting procedure was carried out with those functions to the impaired. Long-time field tests with the fitted digital hearing aids were conducted by the impaired in their daily lives. The listeners evaluated performance of the hearing aids in a scale of seven categories for some situations such like listening to radio/television in quiet, conversation among a few persons in quiet and in noisy environment, conversation among great numbers of people, listening to speech on the street, appraisal of the quality of self-uttered voice, and so on. The results show that the performance of the new hearing aids are significantly better than those achieved by conventional hearing aids in all the situations.
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