Sound source localization using hearing aids with microphones placed behind-the-ear, in-the-canal, and in-the-pinna

• Published in: International journal of audiology Vol. 50; no. 3; p. 164
• Main Authors: Van den Bogaert, Tim, Carette, Evelyne, Wouters, Jan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 01.03.2011
• Subjects: Acoustic Stimulation; Analysis of Variance; Auditory Threshold; Case-Control Studies; Correction of Hearing Impairment - psychology; Ear; Ear Auricle; Ear Canal; Equipment Design; Hearing Aids; Hearing Loss - psychology; Hearing Loss - rehabilitation; Humans; Persons With Hearing Impairments - psychology; Persons With Hearing Impairments - rehabilitation; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; Sound Localization; Sound Spectrography; Time Factors; Transducers
• ISSN: 1708-8186
• DOI: 10.3109/14992027.2010.537376

The effect of different commercial hearing aids on the ability to resolve front-back confusions and on sound localization in the frontal horizontal and vertical plane was studied. Commercial hearing aids with a microphone placed in-the-ear-canal (ITC), behind-the-ear (BTE), and in-the-pinna (ITP) were evaluated in the frontal and full horizontal plane, and in the frontal vertical plane. A group of 13 hearing-impaired subjects evaluated the hearing aids. Nine normal-hearing listeners were used as a reference group. Differences in sound localization in the front-back dimension were found for different hearing aids. A large inter-subject variability was found during the front-back and elevation experiments. With ITP or ITC microphones, almost all natural spectral information was preserved. One of the BTE hearing aids, which is equipped with a directional microphone configuration, generated a sufficient amount of spectral cues to allow front-back discrimination. No significant effect of hearing aids on elevation performance in the frontal vertical plane was observed. Hearing-impaired subjects reached the same performance with and without the different hearing aids. In the unaided condition, a frequency-specific audibility correction was applied. Some of the hearing-impaired listeners reached normal hearing performance with this correction.