Noise reduction algorithms in hearing aids are crucial to improve speech understanding in background noise for hearing impaired persons. For binaural hearing aids, algorithms that exploit the microphone signals from both the left and the right hearing aid are considered to be promising techniques for noise reduction, because in addition to spectral information spatial information can be exploit...

The suprathreshold word-recognition scores for 2 young, adult males with bilateral, symmetrical sensorineural hearing impairment were evaluated following monaural and then binaural hearing-aid fitting. Subjects were obtained by retrospective review of records. Subject 1 was followed over an approximately 11.5-year time period and Subject 2 was followed over an approximately 6-year period. Resul...

The relationship between aided binaural squelch measured using a conventional paradigm and binaural squelch inferred from the ability to detect an intelligibility difference between binaural and pseudobinaural stimuli (presumably utilizing interaural time and intensity cues) was investigated. The conventional measures of aided binaural squelch included the NU-6 monosyllables and the high-predic...

This investigation examined whether speech intelligibility in noise can be improved using a new, binaural broadband hearing instrument system. Participants were 36 adults with symmetrical, sensorineural hearing loss (18 experienced hearing instrument users and 18 without prior experience). Participants were fit binaurally in a planned comparison, randomized crossover design study with binaural ...

Older adults often have difficulty understanding speech in a noisy environment or with multiple speakers. In such situations, binaural hearing improves the signal-to-noise ratio. How does this binaural advantage change with increasing age? Using magnetoencephalography, we recorded cortical activity evoked by changes in interaural phase differences of amplitude-modulated tones. These responses o...

1603 Binaural recordings enable us to capture all sound attributes including spatial information, room effect, and source characteristics in a given environment. It has been shown that blocked-entrance binaural recordings provide advantages over open-entrance recordings, primarily because the blocked-entrance recordings are not influenced by the ear canal acoustics of the individual. However, b...

OBJECTIVES The aim of the study was to investigate the long-term effects of early conductive hearing loss on binaural processing in school-age children. DESIGN One hundred and eighteen children participated in the study, 82 children with a documented history of conductive hearing loss associated with otitis media and 36 controls who had documented histories showing no evidence of otitis media...

Separating sound sources in complex acoustical environment is an everyday challenge for our auditory system. Listeners with normal hearing are able to use binaural cues to solve this problem, but in impaired hearing these mechanisms are often disturbed. The aim of binaural noise reduction schemes in hearing aids is to improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in complex acoustic environments and ...

Cochlear implants (CIs) provide children with access to speech information from a young age. Despite bilateral cochlear implantation becoming common, use of spatial cues in free field is smaller than in normal-hearing children. Clinically fit CIs are not synchronized across the ears; thus binaural experiments must utilize research processors that can control binaural cues with precision. Resear...