WS Audiology, Office of Research in Clinical Amplification (ORCA-USA), Lisle, IL, USA.
Int J Audiol. 2023 Jan;62(1):21-29. doi: 10.1080/14992027.2021.2022789. Epub 2022 Jan 11.
This study used the multi-level Tracking of Noise Tolerance (TNT) test to compare Augmented Focus (AF) or split processing over non-AF processing with adaptive directionality (non-AF-dirm) and with an omnidirectional microphone (non-AF-omni).
This was a single-blind, within-subject repeated measures design.
Nineteen listeners with a mild-to-moderate hearing loss. The listeners' task was to determine their tolerable noise level (TNL) in the sound-field at four fixed speech levels (i.e. 62, 68, 75, and 85 dB SPL) in the unaided condition and the different aided conditions. The speech passages were presented from 0° while a continuous speech-shaped noise was presented from 180°. Each condition was tested twice, each in a different counterbalanced order.
AF improved TNL by an average of 2.9 dB over non-AF-dirm. Adaptive directionality improved the aided TNL by 4.7 dB over the non-AF-omni condition. The unaided TNL was similar to the aided non-AF-omni TNL. Whereas a stable TNL was reached in 20-30 s for non-AF-dirm, it took AF < 15 s to reach a stable TNL at all input levels.
This study shows that AF allowed 2.9 dB of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) improvement over that of non-AF-dirm and 7.6 dB over the aided non-AF-omni condition.
本研究使用多层次噪声容限追踪（TNT）测试，比较了增强聚焦（AF）或分段处理与自适应方向性（非-AF-dir）和全向麦克风（非-AF-omni）相比的非-AF 处理。
这是一项单盲、受试者内重复测量设计。
19 名听力轻度至中度受损的听众。听众的任务是在无辅助条件和不同辅助条件下，在声场中确定其可耐受噪声水平（TNL），固定四个语音水平（即 62、68、75 和 85 dB SPL）。语音片段从 0°呈现，而连续语音形状噪声从 180°呈现。每个条件测试两次，以不同的平衡顺序进行。
与非-AF-dir 相比，AF 平均提高了 2.9 dB 的 TNL。自适应方向性使辅助 TNL 比非-AF-omni 条件提高了 4.7 dB。无辅助 TNL 与辅助非-AF-omni TNL 相似。而非-AF-dir 在 20-30 秒内达到稳定的 TNL，而 AF 在所有输入水平下只需不到 15 秒即可达到稳定的 TNL。
本研究表明，AF 可将信噪比（SNR）提高 2.9 dB，优于非-AF-dir，提高 7.6 dB，优于辅助非-AF-omni 条件。
