Virtual Acoustic Localization Experiment

Virtual Acoustic Localization Experiment for the Evaluation of a Dereverberation Algorithm in Terms of Speech Intelligibility & Localization Performance of Normal Hearing & Hearing Impaired Subjects

The present study has the evaluation of a test to measure the localization performance goal . It is about the perception of danger audio signals in everyday listening environments nearby which are reproduced in controlled laboratory conditions. In addition, a dereverberation algorithm regarding speech intelligibility and localization ability is evaluated . The research hypothesis is that the dereverberation of the audio signals can improve speech intelligibility for both normal hearing and hearing-impaired persons. In addition, the binaural dereverberation algorithm should not affect the localization ability in everyday situations.

Inclusion Criteria:

• adults , in general healthy (no diagnosis of dementia and/or stroke known), mother tongue: (swiss) german, normal hearing or with hearing aid wearers both sides or with CI support on both sides, symmetrical hearing loss

Exclusion Criteria:

• deviation of inclusion criteria, known fluctuating, rapidly progressive hearing loss, test person is not able to come one time a week to the University Hospital of Zurich or to handle 1-2 hours appointments or is not able to use touchscreen