Model-based hearing-enhancement strategies for cochlear synaptopathy pathologies

• Published in: Hearing research Vol. 424; p. 108569
• Main Authors: Drakopoulos, Fotios, Vasilkov, Viacheslav, Osses Vecchi, Alejandro, Wartenberg, Tijmen, Verhulst, Sarah
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.10.2022; Elsevier
• Subjects: Auditory signal processing; Bioengineering; Cochlear synaptopathy; Computational modelling; Computer Science; Hearing aids; Hearing enhancement; Hearing loss; Human health and pathology; Life Sciences; Neurons and Cognition; Peripheral coding; Sensory Organs; Sound; Speech intelligibility; Temporal-envelope processing; Auditory signal processing; Temporal-envelope processing; Cochlear synaptopathy; Peripheral coding; Computational modelling; Speech intelligibility; Hearing aids; Hearing enhancement; Hearing loss
• ISSN: 0378-5955; 1878-5891; 1878-5891
• DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2022.108569

•Ageing can result in synaptic damage to the auditory nerve (CS).•Hearing aids do not compensate for the functional consequences of CS.•Model-based hearing-enhancement strategies restored temporal-envelope processing.•Peripheral coding and speech intelligibility were enhanced in NH listeners.•CS-compensating algorithms could improve current hearing aids and hearables. It is well known that ageing and noise exposure are important causes of sensorineural hearing loss, and can result in damage of the outer hair cells or other structures of the inner ear, including synaptic damage to the auditory nerve (AN), i.e., cochlear synaptopathy (CS). Despite the suspected high prevalence of CS among people with self-reported hearing difficulties but seemingly normal hearing, conventional hearing-aid algorithms do not compensate for the functional deficits associated with CS. Here, we present and evaluate a number of auditory signal-processing strategies designed to maximally restore AN coding for listeners with CS pathologies. We evaluated our algorithms in subjects with and without suspected age-related CS to assess whether physiological and behavioural markers associated with CS can be improved. Our data show that after applying our algorithms, envelope-following responses and perceptual amplitude-modulation sensitivity were consistently enhanced in both young and older listeners. Speech-in-noise intelligibility showed small improvements after processing but mostly for young normal-hearing participants, with median improvements of up to 8.3%. Since our hearing-enhancement strategies were designed to optimally drive the AN fibres, they were able to improve temporal-envelope processing for listeners both with and without suspected CS. Our proposed algorithms can be rapidly executed and can thus extend the application range of current hearing aids and hearables, while leaving sound amplification unaffected.