You are here
Individualized Signal Processing Strategy :Phase II
Phone: (321) 591-9836
Email: lkrause@securboration.com
Phone: (321) 591-9836
Email: lkrause@securboration.com
This project describes a novel approach to automate and individualize the signal processing strategy
for hearing aidsHAthat can result in improved speech intelligibility in background noisegreater
user satisfaction and acceptance for HAsand reduce barriers to affordable hearing health careThe
proposed Individualized Signal Processing StrategyISPSis based on individual performance on
categorical perception tasks for speech stimuliThis differs from traditional methods based on
sophisticated gain models built upon average perceptionperformanceand preference dataThe
ability to determine one s ISPS automaticallyrapidly and remotely can result in dramatic cost savings
and greater accessibility to hearing health care for patients who cannot afford it or for those who lack
easy access to the necessary expertiseThese technical achievements have the potential to radically
change HA service delivery models yet can be implemented within existing business models and in
concert with current practitionersThe ISPS method effectively replaces target based HA fittinge gNAL NLwith individualized speech based parameter adjustmentThe proposed work follows
successful completion of our pilot project and builds upon the research team s prior research on novel
fitting methods for cochlear implantCIdevices recently acquired by CochlearLtdFollowing the
successful implementation of ISPS and integration with commercial HA software in the pilot studywe
demonstrated feasibility including a field study in which performance outcomes for the ISPS method
were as good as a conventional HA fitting method and only took a fraction of the timedespite ISPS
having no prior knowledge of patient characteristics and no audiogramSuccessful maturation and
commercialization of the ISPS technology in Phase II will address several barriers identified in the
previous RFA DCincluding physicalinfrastructureand knowledge barriersby allowing
remote or self fitting HAseconomic barriersby reducing overall costsand cultural barriersby
providing easy access to HA fitting for patients who tend to avoid professional helpThis Phase II
project will develop an operational ISPS method byintegrating ISPS with hardware software
systems of our industry partnersrefine and enhance the ISPS method to improve efficiency and
effectiveness of fitting hearing instrumentsbuild support for the use of ISPS in multiple
marketplacesandevaluate the technology through field trials in different service delivery
environments by comparing outcomes with ISPS fitting to those achieved with traditional prescriptive
gain fitting within the same subjectsFollowing successful demonstration of these objectivesa Phase
III project will focus on the transition of the technology to support remote and self fitting of hearing
instruments
* Information listed above is at the time of submission. *