Optimizing speech coding strategies for noise and music

描述(申请人提供)：多年来，人工耳蜗者的语音理解能力稳步提高。然而，在嘈杂的听力环境中，CI用户的语音感知性能会大幅下降。此外，CI用户无法识别熟悉的旋律和享受音乐。一些CL患者将音乐称为“有节奏的噪音”。在噪音中交流和欣赏音乐仍然是人工耳蜗术中最大的两个挑战。人们对氯使用者在噪音和识别熟悉旋律方面表现不佳的因素知之甚少。在这个项目中，我们提出了一系列旨在分离这些因素的实验。我们提出了针对音乐和噪声的新的信号处理算法。拟议的实验有五个具体目标。第一个目标是评估噪声中精细结构和包络信息对单词识别的相对贡献。第二个目标是研究保留精细时间线索和/或包络线索的两种降噪算法的性能。提出了一种针对单个用户定制和优化降噪算法的方法。第三个目标是评估精细结构和包络信息对旋律识别的相对贡献。 第四个目标是研究一种新策略的执行情况，该策略结合了精细结构信息以获得更好的音乐感知。最后一个目的是调查去同步策略的表现，该去同步策略可以用于那些原本不能从先前的语音或音乐目标中提出的策略中获得任何好处的受试者。这五个目标加在一起将产生最适合个人用户的语音/音乐编码算法。上述实验结果将为更好地理解精细结构线索在噪声环境下的语音理解和听者音乐欣赏中的重要性奠定基础。它还将为开发未来用于人工耳蜗的信号处理策略开辟新的途径，这些策略不仅可能用于提高语音清晰度，还可能用于改善说话人识别和声调语言识别。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The speech understanding capabilities of cochlear implant (Cl) users have increased steadily throughout the years. However, speech perception performance of Cl users drops tremendously in noisy listening conditions. Also, Cl users are unable to identify familiar melodies and enjoy music. Some Cl patients refer to music as "noise with rhythm". Communicating in noise and enjoying music still remain the two biggest challenges in cochlear implants. Little is known about the factors that contribute to the poor performance of Cl users in noise and in identifying familiar melodies. In this project, we propose a series of experiments aimed at isolating these factors. We propose new signal processing algorithms tailored for music and noise. The proposed experiments have five specific aims. The first aim assesses the relative contribution of fine structure and envelope information on word recognition in noise. The second aim investigates the performance of two noise reduction algorithms that preserve fine temporal cues and/or envelope cues. A method for customizing and optimizing the noise reduction algorithms to individual users is proposed. The third aim assesses the relative contribution of fine structure and envelope information on melody recognition. The fourth aim investigates the performance of a new strategy that incorporates fine-structure information for better music perception. The last aim investigates the performance of a desynchronizing strategy which can be used for subjects who would otherwise not be able to receive any benefit from the strategies proposed in the previous aims for speech or music. The five aims taken together will produce speech/music coding algorithms that will be optimally fit to individual users. The results of the above experiments will lay the groundwork for a better understanding on the importance of fine structure cues for speech understanding in noise and for music appreciation by Cl listeners. It will also open new avenues for the development of future signal processing strategies for cochlear implants that could potentially be used to improve not only speech intelligibility but also speaker identification and tonal language recognition.