Speech Perception in Noise

Hearing-impaired listeners and cochlear implant patients experience particular difficulty in challenging listening environments involving noise, competing speech, or reverberation. One major focus of research in the Scientific and Clinical Studies Section deals with the distortions in auditory processing that accompany hearing loss and how these distortions affect speech recognition in noise and other challenging listening situations. Our research in this area includes modeling aspects of peripheral auditory processing in individual hearing-impaired listeners and examining relationships between specific processing distortions and speech performance. We also study the factors associated with hearing loss that influence speech perception in fluctuating noise backgrounds that are encountered in everyday listening situations. These research efforts have implications for future hearing aid and cochlear implant design as well as fitting strategies and counseling of both hearing-impaired listeners and cochlear implant patients.