Design and analysis of a novel automatic gain control pre-amplifier circuit for hearing aid device

In this paper, a new design strategy for the hardware implementation of hearing aid algorithms is proposed. Two familiar hearing aid algorithms—Wide Dynamic Range Compression (WDRC) and Automatic Gain Control (AGC)—are implemented in one circuit as an example. By putting the common arithmetic procedures into common module, the operation units can be used repeatedly. In this way, the area and power consumption are visibly reduced.

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Hearing-aid automatic gain control adapting to two sound sources in the environment, using three time constants

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America ◽

10.1121/1.1793207 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 116 (5) ◽

pp. 3152-3155 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Peter Nordqvist ◽

Arne Leijon

Keyword(s):

Automatic Gain Control ◽

Hearing Aid ◽

Gain Control ◽

Sound Sources ◽

Time Constants

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Effect of (Mis)Matched Compression Speed on Speech Recognition in Bimodal Listeners

Trends in Hearing ◽

10.1177/2331216520948974 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 24 ◽

pp. 233121652094897

Author(s):

Dimitar Spirrov ◽

Eugen Kludt ◽

Eline Verschueren ◽

Andreas Büchner ◽

Tom Francart

Keyword(s):

Speech Recognition ◽

Cochlear Implant ◽

Dynamic Range ◽

Automatic Gain Control ◽

Hearing Aid ◽

Gain Control ◽

Time Constants ◽

Hearing Devices ◽

Testing Condition ◽

Speech Recognition In Noise

Automatic gain control (AGC) compresses the wide dynamic range of sounds to the narrow dynamic range of hearing-impaired listeners. Setting AGC parameters (time constants and knee points) is an important part of the fitting of hearing devices. These parameters do not only influence overall loudness elicited by the hearing devices but can also affect the recognition of speech in noise. We investigated whether matching knee points and time constants of the AGC between the cochlear implant and the hearing aid of bimodal listeners would improve speech recognition in noise. We recruited 18 bimodal listeners and provided them all with the same cochlear-implant processor and hearing aid. We compared the matched AGCs with the default device settings with mismatched AGCs. As a baseline, we also included a condition with the mismatched AGCs of the participants’ own devices. We tested speech recognition in quiet and in noise presented from different directions. The time constants affected outcomes in the monaural testing condition with the cochlear implant alone. There were no specific binaural performance differences between the two AGC settings. Therefore, the performance was mostly dependent on the monaural cochlear implant alone condition.

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