A time-domain digital simulation of hearing aid response.

A time-domain digital simulation of an in-the-ear (ITE) hearing aid has been developed. The stimulation allows modeling of nonlinear effects such as compression and amplifier distortion in addition to linear processing and acoustics. The simulation includes a microphone, two-channel compression processing, an amplifier with clipping distortion, a receiver, an ear canal and ear drum, and feedback and direct sound transmission through the vent. Simulation results for a linear hearing aid are similar to those obtained for frequency-domain representations of the analog system. Examples of responses for nonlinear systems are also provided.