The Effects of Nonlinear Frequency Compression on Sound Quality Perception by Hearing-Impaired Listeners / 听力学及言语疾病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the effects of nonlinear frequency compression (NLFC) on sound quality perception by the Mandarin-speaking subjects with high-frequency hearing loss.Methods Twenty-three listeners with sensorineural hearing loss with no previous experiences of using hearing aids participated in this study.They were all fitted binaurally with Phonak Bolero Q hearing aids.The stimuli,including male voice,female voice,bird chirping,music,and self-voice,were presented in a random order with a custom software via a loudspeaker at 65 dB SPL.Regarding NLFC parameters,cut-off frequency (CF) ranged from 4.9 to 6 kHz and compression ratio (CR) was programed as 1.5.Subjects evaluated the sound quality of the stimulus in loudness,clearness,naturalness and overall preference under the conditions of NLFC-on and NLFC-off.A paired-sample t-test was conducted to assess the group differences in sound quality rating between NLFC on and off conditions.Results Paired test showed significant difference of high-frequency hearing threshold under the condition of NLFC-on and NLFC-off at 6 and 8 kHz(P＞0.05).No significant statistical difference was found in subjects' sound quality ratings between NLFC-on and NLFC-off conditions (all P＞0.05).Conclusion NLFC technology resulted in no significant impact on sound quality perception for the non-experienced hearing aid users.