Auditory Model-Based Dynamic Compression Controlled by Subband Instantaneous Frequency and Speech Presence Probability Estimates

Sensorineural hearing loss typically results in elevated thresholds and steepened loudness growth significantly conditioned by a damage of outer hair cells (OHC). In hearing aids, amplification and dynamic compression aim at widening the limited available dynamic range. However, speech perception pa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE/ACM transactions on audio, speech, and language processing Vol. 24; no. 10; pp. 1759 - 1772
Main Authors: Kortlang, Steffen, Grimm, Giso, Hohmann, Volker, Kollmeier, Birger, Ewert, Stephan D.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Piscataway IEEE 01.10.2016
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
Subjects:
Algorithms
Amplification
Auditory model
Auditory system
Compressing
compression
Dynamics
Estimates
Frequency estimation
Gain
gammatone
Hearing aids
Intelligibility
Mathematical models
Physiology
Quality
spectral enhancement
Speech
speech presence probability (SPP)
Speech processing
ISSN:2329-9290, 2329-9304
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Sensorineural hearing loss typically results in elevated thresholds and steepened loudness growth significantly conditioned by a damage of outer hair cells (OHC). In hearing aids, amplification and dynamic compression aim at widening the limited available dynamic range. However, speech perception particularly in complex acoustic scenes often remains difficult. Here, a physiologically motivated, fast acting, model-based dynamic compression algorithm (MDC) is introduced which aims at restoring the behaviorally estimated basilar membrane input-output (BM I/O) function in normal-hearing listeners. A system-specific gain prescription rule is suggested, based on the same model BM I/O function and a behavioral estimate of the individual OHC loss. Cochlear off-frequency component suppression is mimicked using an instantaneous frequency (IF) estimate. Increased loudness as a consequence of widened filters in the impaired system is considered in a further compensation stage. In an extended version, a subband estimate of the speech presence probability (MDC+SPP) additionally provides speech-selective amplification in stationary noise. Instrumental evaluation revealed that the IF control enhances the spectral contrast of vowels and benefits in quality predictions at higher signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) were observed. Compared with a conventional multiband dynamic compressor, MDC achieved objective quality and intelligibility benefits for a competing talker at lower SNRs. MDC+SPP outperformed the conventional compressor in the quality predictions and reached comparable instrumental speech intelligibility as achieved with linear amplification. The proposed algorithm provides a first promising basis for auditory model-based compression with signal-type- and bandwidth-dependent gains.
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ISSN:2329-9290
2329-9304
DOI:10.1109/TASLP.2016.2584705