cnbs30@vaxa.strath.ac.uk (05/07/91)
EUROPEAN COMMISION TIDE PROJECT ON
DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSING (DSP) for HEARING AIDS
CALL FOR PROPOSAL COLLABORATORS
Robert W. Stewart
Signal Processing Division
Dept. of Electronic and Electrical Eng.
University of Strathclyde
Glasgow G1 1XW
Scotland, U.K.
Tel: +44 41 552 4400 Extn 2396
Fax: +44 41 552 2487
E-mail: cnbs30@vaxa.strath.ac.uk
INTRODUCTION
We are currently forming a European consortium in the
technical area of Digital Signal Processing (DSP) for
Hearing Aids. At present we have partners within the UK
(although we would welcome input from additional other
potential UK) but now require EUROPEAN collaborative
partners. As with all EC Funding Intiatives for this
proposal to be successful, the project partners must be
located in more than one European country.
If you have any interest in this area please contact me by
telephone, FAX, e-mail or regular mail as soon as possible.
Please note the early deadline of 14th June 1991 for
proposal submission. Unfortunately I am at the ICASSP
conference in Toronto from 9th May to 18th May 1991. I
will urgently reply to all inputs after that date.
CONSORTIUM PARTNERS
We see the Signal Processing Division at the University of
Strathclyde as being the DSP algorithms and architectures
partner. We also see requirements for partners from the
European Community in AT LEAST the following areas:
o Clinical partners at hospitals or institutes of
hearing/audiology to provide the medical interface for
testing, research and development, and bring hearing
expertise to the project. (We are currently in regular
contact with a UK hospital, but we require European
involvement.)
o Industrial partners involved in the design/manufacture
of hearing aids.
o Universities of Research Institutes involved in research
of speech processing/ digital audio processing etc.
OVERVIEW OF DSP FOR HEARING AIDS
As a motivation for researching in this area, one only need
consider that hearing impairment has been identified in the
USA, as the number one chronic disability affecting the
population, particularly the elderly. In the same way that
DSP has revolutionised the audio industry, it is anticipated
the same can be done for people suffering from hearing
disabilities.
The presence of background noise during communication poses
a challenge for most people, but is an exceptional challenge
to the hearing impaired. Recent research has clearly
demonstrated that todays increase in environmental noise,
and prolonged reverberation time, significantly reduce
speech intelligibility. Attempts at improving speech
communication have included directional microphones, high
pass filtering, and radio frequency devices. Unfortunately
none of these techniques have produced any significant
improvement in speech intelligibility and general hearing.
With the advent of DSP processors, the computational
capability now exists to build real time adaptive digital
filters to enhance hearing, specifically in a cocktail
party noise} environment (picking out a single talker, from
a background of mulitple talkers), and in general
background noise environments. The loss of directional
localisation sense suffered by individuals with partial
deafness in one ear, can now also be addressed by applying
adaptive beamformer techniques using DSP processors.
Conventional signal procesing techniques used in hearing
aids will allow the frequency and power spectrums of a
hearing aid, to be shaped more accurately than conventional
analogue techniques. This is vitally important as no two
people have exactly the same hearing impairment.
Furthermore crude amplification of input signals can further
damage the ear, even although an individual may not
hear} particular frequencies. Digitally controlled
amplitude compression systems whose charactersitics (e.g.
compression ratio, compression threshold, limiting level)
can be adjusted levels.
SIGNAL PROCESSING DIVISION BACKGROUND
The Signal Processing Division at the Unviversity of
Strathclyde has 7 full-time academic staff and more than 20
full-time research staff. Current research activities range
through radar/sonar signal processing, biomedical signal
processing, seismic and geophysical signal processing, image
processing, signal conditioning algorithms and techniques,
expert systems for signal processing and parallel algorithm
and computer design. The division's profile can be judged
by noting that it was largely responsible for attracting the
prestigious IEEE International Conference on Acoustics,
Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP-89) in Glasgow in May
1989.
May 6, 1991
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Bob Stewart |JANET: cnbs30@uk.ac.strath.vaxa
Signal Processing Division|
Dept. of Electronic Eng. |E-MAIL:cnbs30%vaxa.strath.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk
University of Strathclyde |BITNET:cnbs30%vaxa.strath.ac.uk@UKACRL
Glasgow G1 1XW |UUCP:cnbs30%vaxa.strath.ac.uk@ukc.uucp
Scotland. |
Tel: +44 41 552 4400 Ext 2396
Fax: +44 41 552 2487
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