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Effective Selection Method of Microphones for Conversation Assistance in Noisy Environment

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Human Interaction, Emerging Technologies and Future Systems V (IHIET 2021)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems ((LNNS,volume 319))

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Abstract

When hearing aids are used in a noisy environment, it is susceptible to noise because built-in microphones alone are used to capture voice. The ultimate goal is to develop a system that efficiently suppresses noise entering a hearing aid by combining multiple microphones located at different positions from the hearing aid. As a preliminary step in building this system, in addition to hearing aid built-in microphones, we placed several microphones between the subject and the conversation partner, recorded under various conditions. And, main microphones and external microphones were evaluated for noise impact and speech intelligibility on a five-point scale. As a result, the evaluation items were scored approximately up to two levels higher, and the external microphone reduced the effect of noise and improved listening comprehension. Therefore, the use of external microphones may solve the problem of hearing aids that have challenges in using them in noisy environments.

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Acknowledgments

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Professor Yoshihisa Nakatoh for his guidance and encouragement in conducting this research.

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Correspondence to Mizuki Horii or Yoshihisa Nakatoh .

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Horii, M., Hirakawa, R., Kawano, H., Nakatoh, Y. (2022). Effective Selection Method of Microphones for Conversation Assistance in Noisy Environment. In: Ahram, T., Taiar, R. (eds) Human Interaction, Emerging Technologies and Future Systems V. IHIET 2021. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 319. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-85540-6_118

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-85540-6_118

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-85539-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-85540-6

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