Masked threshold for noise bands masked by narrower bands of noise: Effects of masker bandwidth and center frequency.

This paper examines how masked thresholds depend on the masker bandwidth and center frequency when the masker has a smaller bandwidth than the signal. The signal bandwidth was equal to the equivalent rectangular bandwidth of the auditory filter and the masker bandwidth was 0.1, 0.35, or 0.6 times the signal bandwidth. The masker and signal were centered at the same frequency of 257, 697, 1538, 3142, or 6930 Hz. Masked thresholds were estimated using a two-interval two-alternative forced-choice paradigm and a three-down one-up adaptive staircase method. Masked thresholds increased with increasing masker bandwidth and were lowest for medium center frequencies.

Durations required to distinguish noise and tone: Effects of noise bandwidth and frequency.

Perceptual audio coders exploit the masking properties of the human auditory system to reduce the bit rate in audio recording and transmission systems; it is intended that the quantization noise is just masked by the audio signal. The effectiveness of the audio signal as a masker depends on whether it is tone-like or noise-like. The determination of this, both physically and perceptually, depends on the duration of the stimuli. To gather information that might improve the efficiency of perceptual coders, the duration required to distinguish between a narrowband noise and a tone was measured as a function of center frequency and noise bandwidth. In experiment 1, duration thresholds were measured for isolated noise and tone bursts. In experiment 2, duration thresholds were measured for tone and noise segments embedded within longer tone pulses. In both experiments, center frequencies were 345, 754, 1456, and 2658 Hz and bandwidths were 0.25, 0.5, and 1 times the equivalent rectangular bandwidth of the auditory filter at each center frequency. The duration thresholds decreased with increasing bandwidth and with increasing center frequency up to 1456 Hz. It is argued that the duration thresholds depended mainly on the detection of amplitude fluctuations in the noise bursts.

Results from a psychoacoustic model-based strategy for the nucleus-24 and freedom cochlear implants.

OBJECTIVE: In normal-hearing listeners acoustic masking occurs depending on frequency, amplitude, and energy of specific signals. If the selection of stimulated channels in cochlear implant systems was based on psychoacoustic masking models, the bandwidth of the electrode/nerve interface could be used more effectively by concentrating on relevant signal components and neglecting those that are usually not perceived by normal hearing listeners. Subsequently, a new strategy called PACE (Psychoacoustic Advanced Combination Encoder) has been developed which uses a psychoacoustic model for the channel selection instead of the simple maxima selection algorithm of the ACE strategy. STUDY DESIGN: Only subjects having at least 2 years experience with the ACE strategy were included. A counterbalanced cross-over design was used to compare the new speech coding strategy with the ACE strategy. SETTING: The investigation was a prospective, within-subject, repeated-measures experiment. PATIENTS: The study group consisted of 10 postlingually deafened adult subjects. INTERVENTIONS: The following programs were evaluated: (1) ACE with 8 maxima selected; (2) PACE with 8 channels selected; and (3) PACE with 4 channels selected. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Speech perception tests in quiet and noise, Quality Assessment Questionnaire. RESULTS: Results indicate a trend towards better performance with PACE. Scores in the Freiburg monosyllabic word test increased by 8% while the SNR50 in the Oldenburger sentence test improved significantly by 1.3 dB. CONCLUSION: The use of psychoacoustic masking models in speech coding strategies has the potential to improve speech perception performance in cochlear implant subjects.

Current steering and results from novel speech coding strategies.

OBJECTIVE: Advanced Bionics' cochlear implants have independent current sources that can share stimulation current between 2 contacts (Current Steering). By stimulating 2 adjacent electrodes with different weights, different pitches can be evoked, allowing to increase the number of processing channels. STUDY DESIGN: A counterbalanced crossover design was used to compare 3 different current steering implementations to the clinical HiRes strategy. SETTING: The study was a prospective, within-subject, repeated-measure experiment. PATIENTS: The study group consisted of 8 postlingually deaf subjects with a minimum of 12-month experience in HiRes. INTERVENTION: The following programs were evaluated: 1) a Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT)-based current steering implementation with 120 stimulation sites; 2) the same current steering implementation but with 16,000 stimulation sites; and 3) a current steering implementation based on a sinusoidal decomposition of the original signal with 16,000 stimulation sites. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Speech perception tests in quiet and in Comité Consultatif International Télégraphique et Téléphonique (CCITT) noise, as well as with competing talker; an adaptive test of the frequency difference limen; a Quality Assessment Questionnaire. RESULTS: Current results do not show any improvement in speech perception for a certain current steering strategy compared with HiRes. However, when selecting the optimal current steering strategy, subjects could achieve a significant benefit compared with the clinical HiRes. In addition, the frequency difference limen could be reduced significantly at 1,280 Hz. CONCLUSION: Current steering seems to have the potential to improve both understanding in adverse listening situations and frequency resolution. However, the optimal implementation needs further investigation.

An auditory model based strategy for cochlear implants.

A physiological and computational model of the human auditory system has been fitted in a signal processing strategy for cochlear implants (CIs). The aim of the new strategy is to obtain more natural sound in CIs by better mimicking the human auditory system. The new strategy was built in three independent stages as proposed in [6]. First a basilar membrane motion model was substituted by the filterbank commonly used in commercial strategies. Second, an inner hair cell model was included in a commercial strategy while maintaining the original filterbank. Third, both the basilar membrane motion and the inner-hair cell model were included in the commercial strategy. This paper analyses the properties and presents results obtained with CI recipients for each algorithm designed.