Abstract
Noise reduction (NR) has been widely used in hearing aids (HAs) to increase ease and comfort of listening and to reduce listening effort. However, NR attenuates noise at the potential cost of distorting speech cues. This makes it challenging for audiologists to select the best configuration for NR during HA fitting process. The long-term goal of our research is to optimize HA fitting by characterizing the neural mechanisms underlying the effect of NR. The purpose of the present study is to examine the effect of NR on cortical dynamics during speech-in-noise tasks in HA users using electroencephalography. Our recent study with normal-hearing listeners has shown that speech recognition in low-level noise engaged greater early activity (~300 ms after word onset) in left supramarginal gyrus and weaker late activity (~700 ms) in left inferior frontal gyrus, than in high-level noise. Based on these findings, we hypothesized that, for a given patient, the optimal NR configuration would be the one that can recruit this “low-level noise” pattern of neural activity. Initial results from the electroencephalographic source space analysis will be presented, and underlying cortical mechanisms of speech processing in HA users will be discussed.
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