New hearing-aid software can improve speech recognition by 50pct
Washington, Aug 6 (ANI): Scientists at Tel Aviv University (TAU) have developed a new hearing-aid software application, called ”Clearcall”, which can improve speech recognition for the hard-of-hearing by up to 50 percent.
In a noisy environment like a busy workplace or cafe, hearing aids and cochlear implants tend to become less effective because other than amplifying voices and music, they augment background sound as well.
However, Clearcall for cochlear implants and hearing aids, developed by Prof. Miriam Furst-Yust of TAU ‘’s School of Electrical Engineering, can help solve this problem as it boosts speech recognition without augmenting background sounds.
“Hearing-impaired people have a real problem understanding speech. Their devices may be useful in a quiet room, but once the background noise levels ramp up, the devices become less useful. Our algorithm helps filter out irrelevant noise so they can better understand the voices of their friends and family,” said Furst-Yust.
The new-patented technology is based on a cochlear model that she devised, and is now being developed to improve the capabilities of existing cochlear implants and digital hearing aids.
Furst-Yust said that adding Clearcall to current technology is quite straightforward and requires only add-on software for existing devices.
“We”ve developed a mathematical model of the ear that shows how speech recognition works. The math is complicated, but basically we”re cleaning auditory information before it goes to the brain. We get rid of some of the information ? the background noise ? so that the hearing-impaired have an easier time ”filling in” missing information that their ears can”t give them,” explained Furst-Yust.
The software was originally developed for use in cell phones, but Clearcall introduced distortions that people with healthy hearing found distracting.
And that’’s when Furst-Yust started applying the methodology to hearing aids.
“It takes some getting used to, but people who have been wearing hearing aids all their lives have no problem getting the most from Clearcall. And we can train the newly hearing impaired in a quick introductory session,” she noted.
Clearcall works with the brain’’s own sound recognition faculties to help the hearing aid wearer filter out background noise.
To a person with normal hearing, and even to the newly hearing impaired, Clearcall will sound different.
But with continued use, the software, called Ramot, improves the clarity of voices from 30 to 50 percent.