Communication Sciences & Disorders

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• Auditory Research Lab
• Child and Adolescent Language Lab (CALL)
• Clinical Research in Neurogenic Communication Disorders Lab (CRNCS)
• Cognitive Auditory Research Lab (CARL)
• Computational, Speech, Sensory, Development & Diseases Lab (CSD²)
• Hearing Aid Research Lab (HARL)
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• Speech Research Lab
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• Vocal Function Research Laboratory

Hearing Aid Research Laborator

Focus of Lab

The primary focus of the Clinical Amplification Research Laboratory is to quantify the benefits derived from high-end signal processing, and user satisfaction measurements. Other areas of research interest in the laboratory include 1) perceived sound quality in individuals with cochlear hearing loss, and 2) electroacoustic characteristics of hearing aids.

In addition to research, the laboratory is used for hearing aid technical teaching in graduate level amplification courses. The laboratory houses a computer dedicated for hearing aid programming, and several models of digital hearing aids donated by Oticon USA and Siemens Hearing Instruments. Other educational uses of the laboratory include electroacoustic evaluation of hearing aids, hands on practice with linear and nonlinear fitting software, acoustic signal processing, and ear impression / ear mold modification.

Personnel

• Ayasakanta Rout

Current Projects

Project I: The effect of spectral enhancement on speech perception.

Spectral enhancement refers to processing speech in such a way that the depth between peaks and valleys in the short-term spectrum is increased. It is argued that individuals with cochlear hearing loss have trouble understanding speech because the natural contrast of speech is ‘smeared’ by the damaged cochlea. By enhancing the spectral contrast, it may be possible to provide more acoustic cues for speech perception.

A custom spectral enhancement algorithm was designed in collaboration with Dr. J. Brandon Laflen (currently at NYU School of Medicine). Effect of spectral enhancement on speech perception of normal-hearing and hearing-impaired subjects was investigated at various levels.

Project II. Discrepancy between the predicted gain and the actual gain for advanced digital hearing aids.

Modern hearing aids require the audiologist to program them using specialized software prior to fitting the hearing aid on the patient. The clinician can see the effect of changing parameters on frequency-gain function on the computer monitor. While it is a reasonable simulation of the hearing aid’s frequency response, recent reports have shown that there can be a lot of variability between what the hearing aid software predicts and what the hearing aid actually does (Hawkins and Cook, 2003; Rout and Jump, 2005). This project investigates the degree of discrepancy across different hearing aid manufacturers.