Individualized Hearing Acoustics: Models, algorithms and systems to ensure acoustic perception for all people in all situations

尽管声音（语音）交流是我们文化的基础，但它也给我们的交流社会带来了巨大的挑战，尤其是由于交流渠道的不足：无处不在的干扰噪音、混响、大约18%的人口中明显或隐蔽的听力损失，在日常生活中都会产生交流问题。相关的声学场景包括老年人的生活环境，以及火车站、公共交通工具、汽车或鸡尾酒会上的声学通信。可用于个人听力支持的技术（即助听器或蓝牙耳机）在其目标群体、各自的应用场景和功能（即个人用户的“有效”听觉支持）方面仍然非常有限。此外，现有技术往往没有充分考虑到个人的偏好和期望，从而限制了它们的好处和接受程度。“个性化听觉声学”研究单元从声学角度解决了由此产生的三个主要问题：（尚未解决的）干扰噪声问题，（有待优化的）个人声音呈现和个性化问题。如何解决这些问题，使个人（可能有听力障碍的）在听觉“困难”的情况下保持对声音信号（语音、音乐、警报信号等）的正确感知？为了解决这些核心研究问题，声学呈现技术和算法正在开发中，这些技术和算法基于听觉系统的先进知识和模型，试图在尽可能多的情况下为许多个人用户配置文件优化声学感知。从可扩展的双耳助听器到具有个性化音质优化的噪声自适应声场再现，这些概念都在演示中得到了实施和测试。因此，研究单位的工作应该作为未来声学系统的基础，“优化所有人在所有声学情况下的声学感知”。

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 ofthe 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 (stiil 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 ofthe 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.