Measuring hearing aid compression algorithm preference with the Tympan

Abstract

In this Tympan challenge, we aim to evaluate listeners’ preferences for different Wide Dynamic Range Compression (WDRC) settings in a real-world environment. While WDRC is used to provide comfort for high-level sounds and audibility for low-level sounds, the nonlinear algorithm distorts the stimulus envelope and can alter the input signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). To date, most measurements of speech understanding and preference under different WDRC parameters (e.g., compression speed and compression ratio) have used pre-processed stimuli presented in a sound-attenuating room. In this study, we plan to measure listeners’ preference for different algorithm settings by using the Tympan in real-world environments. The Tympan will be programmed based on the listeners’ hearing loss, but the user will be able to switch between algorithm settings immediately in their environment using the associated Smartphone app. Using ecological momentary assessment, we will briefly survey the users about their perceptions as they switch between settings. We also will use the Tympan to save acoustic samples and to measure the acoustic properties of the environment and the hearing output, in an effort to determine the drivers of the preference scores [i.e., amount of distortion, degree of audibility, SNR changes (if possible), etc.].