HEARING AIDS, COCHLEAR IMPLANTS, AND SPEECH RECOGNITION

描述：该项目将确定声学和发音 特征的（错误）知觉的语音由个人与 使用助听器和人工耳蜗的听力损失患者。 该项目将 还研究了信号修改的影响，旨在克服 这些误解。 两个程序将被用来确定频率区域和类型 这些听众所犯的错误。 第一个程序，相关性 方法，是一种新技术，可以快速可靠地估计 收听者使用语音的各种频率区域和特征。 该方法 在临床试验、设计和 助听器的装配，也用于评估和编程处理器 人工耳蜗植入患者。 第二个程序，测试与过滤 语音，是一个更久经考验的方法，产生大致相同的信息， 但是以更长且效率更低的方式。 在拟议的实验中， 这两种方法会一并使用，以测试每种方法的有效性。 此外，这两种方法都可以用来检验关于 听力损失的程度和患者使用听得见的语言的能力 信息. 如果有必要，相关方法将进一步 为临床应用而开发。 应用相关方法获得的信息， 听力受损的患者将建议一些信号修改， 助听器和人工耳蜗植入的策略。 另外的实验 将测试这些策略对语音识别的有效性， 感音神经性听力损失患者。

DESCRIPTION: This project will identify the acoustic and articulatory features of the (mis)perceptions of speech sounds made by individuals with hearing loss who use hearing aids and cochlear implants. The project will also investigate the effects of signal modifications designed to overcome these misperceptions. Two procedures will be used to identify the frequency regions of and types of errors that these listeners make. The first procedure, the correlational method, is a new technique that yields rapid and reliable estimates of how listeners use various frequency regions and features of speech. This method holds considerable promise for use in clinical testing, the design and fitting of hearing aids, and also for evaluating and programming processors in cochlear implant patients. The second procedure, testing with filtered speech, is a more time-tested method, yielding much the same information, but in a longer and less efficient fashion. In the proposed experiments, these two methods will be used in conjunction to test the validity of each. In addition, both methods can be used to test hypotheses concerning the degree of hearing loss and the ability of patients to use audible speech information. If warranted, the correlational method will be further developed for clinical application. The information obtained from the correlational method applied to hearing-impaired patients will suggest some signal modifications and strategies for hearing aids and cochlear implants. Additional experiments will test the efficacy of these strategies upon speech recognition in listeners with sensorineural hearing loss.