Robust Distributed Noise Reduction in Hearing Aids with External Acoustic Sensor Nodes

The benefit of using external acoustic sensor nodes for noise reduction in hearing aids is demonstrated in a simulated acoustic scenario with multiple sound sources. A distributed adaptive node-specific signal estimation (DANSE) algorithm, that has a reduced communication bandwidth and computational load, is evaluated. Batch-mode simulations compare the noise reduction performance of a centralized multi-channel Wiener filter (MWF) with DANSE. In the simulated scenario, DANSE is observed not to be able to achieve the same performance as its centralized MWF equivalent, although in theory both should generate the same set of filters. A modification to DANSE is proposed to increase its robustness, yielding smaller discrepancy between the performance of DANSE and the centralized MWF. Furthermore, the influence of several parameters such as the DFT size used for frequency domain processing and possible delays in the communication link between nodes is investigated.

[1]  Douglas L. Jones,et al.  Performance of time- and frequency-domain binaural beamformers based on recorded signals from real rooms. , 2004, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[2]  Marc Moonen,et al.  Distributed Adaptive Node-Specific Signal Estimation in Fully Connected Sensor Networks—Part I: Sequential Node Updating , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing.

[3]  Patrick M. Zurek,et al.  Microphone-array hearing aids with binaural output. II. A two-microphone adaptive system , 1997, IEEE Trans. Speech Audio Process..

[4]  D. Markle,et al.  Hearing Aids , 1936, The Journal of Laryngology & Otology.

[5]  Marc Moonen,et al.  Reduced-Bandwidth and Distributed MWF-Based Noise Reduction Algorithms for Binaural Hearing Aids , 2009, IEEE Transactions on Audio, Speech, and Language Processing.

[6]  Volkmar Hamacher.  Comparison of advanced monaural and binaural noise reduction algorithms for hearing aids , 2002, 2002 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing.

[7]  Martin Vetterli,et al.  Rate-Constrained Beamforming for Collaborating Hearing Aids , 2006, 2006 IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory.

[8]  Marc Moonen,et al.  Distributed Adaptive Node-Specific Signal Estimation in Fully Connected Sensor Networks—Part II: Simultaneous and Asynchronous Node Updating , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing.

[9]  Marc Moonen,et al.  Distributed adaptive estimation of correlated node-specific signals in a fully connected sensor network , 2009, 2009 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing.

[10]  S. Soli,et al.  Development of the Hearing in Noise Test for the measurement of speech reception thresholds in quiet and in noise. , 1994, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[11]  Marc Moonen,et al.  Binaural Cue Preservation for Hearing Aids using an Interaural Transfer Function Multichannel Wiener Filter , 2007, 2007 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing - ICASSP '07.

[12]  B Kollmeier,et al.  Real-time multiband dynamic compression and noise reduction for binaural hearing aids. , 1993, Journal of rehabilitation research and development.

[13]  Marc Moonen,et al.  Binaural Noise Reduction Algorithms for Hearing Aids That Preserve Interaural Time Delay Cues , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing.

[14]  Marc Moonen,et al.  THEORETICAL ANALYSIS OF BINAURAL CUE PRESERVATION USING MULTI-CHANNEL WIENER FILTERING AND INTERAURAL TRANSFER FUNCTIONS , 2006 .

[15]  Volker Hohmann,et al.  Strategy-selective noise reduction for binaural digital hearing aids , 2003, Speech Commun..

[16]  Marc Moonen,et al.  GSVD-based optimal filtering for single and multimicrophone speech enhancement , 2002, IEEE Trans. Signal Process..

[17]  J. A. Bondy,et al.  Graph Theory with Applications , 1978 .

[18]  Patrick M. Zurek,et al.  Microphone-array hearing aids with binaural output .I. Fixed-processing systems , 1997, IEEE Trans. Speech Audio Process..

[19]  Elwood S. Buffa,et al.  Graph Theory with Applications , 1977 .

[20]  H. Kwon,et al.  Real-Time Implementation of a Distributed Voice Activity Detector , 2006, Fourth IEEE Workshop on Sensor Array and Multichannel Processing, 2006..

[21]  Dorothea Kolossa,et al.  Multi-speaker voice activity detection using ICA and beampattern analysis , 2006, 2006 14th European Signal Processing Conference.

[22]  A. J. Berkhout,et al.  Design of a broadside array for a binaural hearing aid , 1997, Proceedings of 1997 Workshop on Applications of Signal Processing to Audio and Acoustics.

[23]  Marc Moonen,et al.  Extension of the multi-channel Wiener filter with localisation cues for noise reduction in binaural hearing aids , 2005 .

[24]  Peter Vary,et al.  Dual-Channel Speech Enhancement by Superdirective Beamforming , 2006, EURASIP J. Adv. Signal Process..

[25]  Jont B. Allen,et al.  Image method for efficiently simulating small‐room acoustics , 1976 .

[26]  S. Haykin,et al.  Extension of the multi-channel Wiener filter with ITD cues for noise reduction in binaural hearing aids , 2005, IEEE Workshop on Applications of Signal Processing to Audio and Acoustics, 2005..

[27]  Futoshi Asano,et al.  A new adaptive binaural microphone array system using a weighted least squares algorithm , 2002, 2002 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing.