FOR 1732: Individualised Hearing Acoustics: Models, Algorithms and Systems for Securing Acoustic Perception for all People in all Situations

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Even though acoustical (speech) communication is the basis of our culture, it underlies enormous challenges in our communication society, especially due to deficiencies in the communication channel: Ubiquitous interfering noise, reverberation, an overt or concealed hearing loss within approximately 18% of our population produces communication problems in daily-life situations. Relevant acoustical scenarios range from living environments for elderly people to acoustic communication at train stations, in public transport, in a car or at a cocktail-party. Available techniques for individual support of hearing (i.e., hearing aids or Bluetooth headsets) are still very limited with respect to their target group, the respective application scenario and the functionality (i.e., ¿effective¿ auditory support of the individual user). Furthermore, individual preferences and expectations are often not sufficiently considered by the available technology, limiting their benefits and acceptance.The Research Unit ¿Individualized Hearing Acoustics¿ tackles the resulting three cardinal problems from an acoustical view: The (still unsolved) problem of interfering noise, the (to-be-optimized) individual sound presentation and the individualization problem. How can these problems be solved to maintain the correct perception of an acoustical signal (speech, music, alarm signals,¿) for the individual (potentially hearing-impaired) human in an acoustical ¿difficult¿ situation? To tackle these central research questions, acoustical presentation techniques and algorithms are being developed that - based on advanced knowledge and models of the auditory system - attempt to optimize acoustical perception in as many situations as possible for many individual user profiles. The concepts are implemented and tested with demonstrators that range from a scalable, binaural hearing aid to noise-adaptive sound field reproduction with individual sound quality optimization. Hence, the work from the Research Unit should serve as the basis for future acoustical systems that optimize the acoustical perception for all humans in all acoustical situations.