Scalable individual binaural hearing aid

我国超过15%的人口表现出需要治疗的听力损失，并且随着年龄的增长，患病率也在增加。通常（部分地）用助听器来补偿已经迟了10多年，而且收效甚微。因此，应该开发一种个人双耳助听器，提供早期的沟通援助，甚至对正常到轻度听力受损的人也有益。因此，当前项目的长期目标是为正常或轻度听力受损的听众在具有声学挑战性的情况下提供听觉支持的无缝集成，在一个声学“透明”的、空间感知的双耳听力设备中，该设备还结合了更积极的信号处理和增强技术，以支持有严重听力障碍的听众。为了实现这一目标，一种结合了几种双耳增强方案的声学透明听力装置的概念被成功地开发出来，并在演示器中实施和测试。此外，在复杂声学环境中用于自动物体识别和定位的机器聆听方法在国际挑战中被证明具有优越的性能。在这些结果的基础上，将在即将到来的资助期内追求以下目标：-进一步优化声学透明耳片，最终实现主动降噪，即即使存在声泄漏，外部噪声也可以绕过耳道抑制（外部）噪声的可能性。-结合这些先进的呈现技术，进一步发展“空间感知”助听器处理。解决方案将考虑针对源增强和分离，利用那些从双耳增强（“增强现实”）中获益的个体听众的感知特性。具体来说，双耳听觉功能受损的听众应该是受益最大的。-开发一套用于双耳助听器的场景分类和源定位算法，提供改进的双耳降噪和源增强算法功能。它们最终应该结合起来，例如，通过听者的手势控制来选择应该增强的源。-利用声源增强与定位算法相结合，增强（双耳）空间环境中某些声源的感知。-将这些技术发展与研究部门的其他创新整合到下一代完全“空间感知”和可扩展的双耳助听器的演示设备中。

More than 15% of our population exhibit a hearing loss that needs treatment and increases in prevalence with age. It is often (partially) compensated more than 10 years too late with a hearing aid - with limited success. Hence, a personal binaural hearing aid should be developed that offers an earty access to communication assistance and is beneficial even for normal to mildly hearingimpaired persons. The long term goal of the current project therefore is the seamless integration of hearing support for normal or mildly hearing-impaired listeners in acoustically challenging situations in an acoustically "transparent", space-aware binaural heanng device which as well incorporates more aggressive signal processing and enhancement techniques for supporting listeners with a substantial hearing impairment. To achieve this goal, the concept of an acoustically transparent hearing device in combination with several binaural enhancement schemes was successfully developed, implemented in a demonstrator and tested. Moreover, machine listening approaches for automatic object recognition and localization in a complex acoustic environment were demonstrated to yield superior performance in an international challenge. Building on these results, the following objectives will be pursued in the upcoming funding period:- Further optimization of the acoustic transparent ear piece which should eventually enable an active noise cancellation, i.e., the possibility of (external) noise suppression even if an acoustic leak exists where noise from the outside can bypass into the ear canal.- To further develop "space aware" hearing aid processing in combination with these advanced presentation techniques. Solutions will be considered that aim at source enhancement and separation utilizing perceptual properties of those individual listeners that profit from binaural enhancement ("enhanced reality"). Specifically, listeners with impaired binaural auditory functions are supposed to profit the most.- To develop a set of scene classification and source localization algorithms for use in binaural hearing aids that provide an improved functionality of binaural noise reduction and source enhancement algorithms. They should eventually be combined, e.g., with gesture control by the listener to select the source that should be enhanced.- Enhancement ofthe perception of certain acoustic sources in a (binaural) spatial environment using source enhancement in combination with localization algorithms.- To integrate these technical developments together with other innovations from the Research Unit into a demonstrator device for a future generation of a fully "space aware" and scalable binaural hearing aid.