Abstract
A toolbox for creation and rendering of dynamic virtual acoustic environments (TASCAR) that allows direct user interaction was developed for application in hearing aid research and audiology. This technical paper describes the general software structure and the time-domain simulation methods, i.e., transmission model, image source model, and render formats, used to produce virtual acoustic environments with moving objects. Implementation-specific properties are described, and the computational performance of the system was measured as a function of simulation complexity. Results show that on commercially available commonly used hardware the simulation of several hundred virtual sound sources is possible in the time domaina
Highlights
Hearing aids have been evolving from simple amplifiers to complex signal processing devices
Summary A toolbox for creation and rendering of dynamic virtual acoustic environments (TASCAR) that allows direct user interaction was developed for application in hearing aid research and audiology
Results show that on commercially available commonly used hardware the simulation of several hundred virtual sound sources is possible in the time domaina
Summary
Hearing aids have been evolving from simple amplifiers to complex signal processing devices. Current hearing devices typically contain spatially sensitive algorithms, e.g., directional microphones, direction of arrival estimators, or binaural noise reduction, as well as automatic classification of the acoustic environment that is used for contextadaptive processing and amplification [1]. Several of these features cannot be tested in the current lab-based setups for hearing-aid evaluation, because they employ rather simple acoustic configurations. Recent developments in hearing aid technology led to an increased level of interaction between the user, the environment and the hearing devices, e.g., by means of motion interaction [7, 8], gaze direction [9] or even with brain-computer interfaces
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