Michal Fereczkowski – Hvem vi er

@article{Michal2024,
title = {Amplitude Compression for Preventing Rollover at Above-Conversational Speech Levels},
author = {Michal Fereczkowski and Raul H Sanchez-Lopez and Stine Christiansen and Tobias Neher},
doi = {10.1177/23312165231224597},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-01-08},
journal = {Trends in Hearing},
volume = {28},
abstract = {Hearing aids provide nonlinear amplification to improve speech audibility and loudness perception. While more audibility typically increases speech intelligibility at low levels, the same is not true for above-conversational levels, where decreases in intelligibility (“rollover”) can occur. In a previous study, we found rollover in speech intelligibility measurements made in quiet for 35 out of 74 test ears with a hearing loss. Furthermore, we found rollover occurrence in quiet to be associated with poorer speech intelligibility in noise as measured with linear amplification. Here, we retested 16 participants with rollover with three amplitude-compression settings. Two were designed to prevent rollover by applying slow- or fast-acting compression with a 5:1 compression ratio around the “sweet spot,” that is, the area in an individual performance-intensity function with high intelligibility and listening comfort. The third, reference setting used gains and compression ratios prescribed by the “National Acoustic Laboratories Non-Linear 1” rule. Speech intelligibility was assessed in quiet and in noise. Pairwise preference judgments were also collected. For speech levels of 70 dB SPL and above, slow-acting sweet-spot compression gave better intelligibility in quiet and noise than the reference setting. Additionally, the participants clearly preferred slow-acting sweet-spot compression over the other settings. At lower levels, the three settings gave comparable speech intelligibility, and the participants preferred the reference setting over both sweet-spot settings. Overall, these results suggest that, for listeners with rollover, slow-acting sweet-spot compression is beneficial at 70 dB SPL and above, while at lower levels clinically established gain targets are more suited.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}

2023

Fereczkowski, Michal; Neher, Tobias

Semantic Context Can Mask Intelligibility Declines at Above-Conversational Speech Levels in Normal-Hearing Listeners Journal Article

Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, pp. 1,7, 2023.

2022

Sanchez-Lopez, Raul; Wu, Mengfan; Fereczkowski, Michal; Santurette, Sébastien; Baumann, Monika; Kowalewski, Borys; Piechowiak, Tobias; Bisgaard, Nikolai; Ravn, Gert; Narayanan, Sreeram Kaithali; Dau, Torsten; Neher, Tobias

Towards Auditory Profile-Based Hearing-Aid Fittings: BEAR Rationale and Clinical Implementation Journal Article

Audiological Research, 12 (5), pp. 564-573, 2022.

@article{AudRes2022a,
title = {Towards Auditory Profile-Based Hearing-Aid Fittings: BEAR Rationale and Clinical Implementation},
author = {Raul Sanchez-Lopez and Mengfan Wu and Michal Fereczkowski and Sébastien Santurette and Monika Baumann and Borys Kowalewski and Tobias Piechowiak and Nikolai Bisgaard and Gert Ravn and Sreeram Kaithali Narayanan and Torsten Dau and Tobias Neher},
url = {https://doi.org/10.3390/audiolres12050055},
doi = {10.3390/audiolres12050055},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-10-09},
journal = {Audiological Research},
volume = {12},
number = {5},
pages = {564-573},
abstract = {(1) Background: To improve hearing-aid rehabilitation, the Danish ‘Better hEAring Rehabilitation’ (BEAR) project recently
developed methods for individual hearing loss
characterization and hearing-aid fitting. Four auditory profiles differing in terms of audiometric hearing loss and supra-threshold hearing abilities were identified. To enable auditory profile-based hearing-aid treatment, a fitting rationale leveraging differences in gain prescription and signal-to- noise (SNR) improvement was developed. This report describes the translation of this rationale to clinical devices supplied by three industrial partners. (2) Methods: Regarding the SNR improvement, advanced feature settings were proposed and verified based on free-field measurements made with an acoustic mannikin fitted with the different hearing aids. Regarding the gain prescription, a clinically feasible fitting tool and procedure based on real-ear gain adjustments were developed. (3) Results: Analyses of the collected real-ear gain and SNR improvement data confirmed the feasibility of the clinical implementation. Differences between the auditory profile-based fitting strategy and a current ‘best practice’ procedure based on the NAL- NL2 fitting rule were verified and are discussed in terms of limitations and future perspectives. (4) Conclusion: Based on a joint effort from academic and industrial partners, the BEAR fitting rationale was transferred to commercially available hearing aids.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}

Fereczkowski, Michal; Neher, Tobias

Predicting Aided Outcome With Aided Word Recognition Scores Measured With Linear Amplification at Above-conversational Levels Journal Article

Ear and Hearing, 44 (1), pp. 155-166, 2022.

Wu, Mengfan; Christiansen, Stine; Fereczkowski, Michal; Neher, Tobias

Revisiting Auditory Profiling: Can Cognitive Factors Improve the Prediction of Aided Speech-in-Noise Outcome? Journal Article

Trends in Hearing, 26 , pp. 1-16, 2022.

@article{Mengfan_congnitive,
title = {Revisiting Auditory Profiling: Can Cognitive Factors Improve the Prediction of Aided Speech-in-Noise Outcome?},
author = {Mengfan Wu and Stine Christiansen and Michal Fereczkowski and Tobias Neher},
doi = {10.1177/23312165221113889},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-06-21},
journal = {Trends in Hearing},
volume = {26},
pages = {1-16},
abstract = {Hearing aids (HA) are the most common type of rehabilitation treatment for age-related hearing loss. However, HA users often obtain limited benefit from their devices, particularly in noisy environments, and thus many HA candidates do not use them at all. A possible reason for this could be that current HA fittings are audiogram-based, that is, they neglect supra-threshold factors. In an earlier study, an auditory-profiling method was proposed as a basis for more personalized HA fittings. This method classifies HA users into four profiles that differ in terms of hearing sensitivity and supra-threshold hearing abilities. Previously, HA users belonging to these profiles showed significant differences in terms of speech recognition in noise but not subjective assessments of speech-in-noise (SIN) outcome. Moreover, large individual differences within some profiles were observed. The current study therefore explored if cognitive factors can help explain these differences and improve aided outcome prediction. Thirty-nine older HA users completed sets of auditory and SIN tests as well as two tablet-based cognitive measures (the Corsi block-tapping and trail-making tests). Principal component analyses were applied to extract the dominant sources of variance both within individual tests producing many variables and within the three types of tests. Multiple linear regression analyses performed on the extracted components showed that auditory factors were related to aided speech recognition in noise but not to subjective SIN outcome. Cognitive factors were unrelated to aided SIN outcome. Overall, these findings provide limited support for adding those two cognitive tests to the profiling of HA users.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}

2021

Sanchez-Lopez, Raul; Nielsen, Silje Grini; El-Haj-Ali, Mouhamad; Bianchi, Federica; Fereczkowski, Michal; Cañete, Oscar M; Wu, Mengfan; Neher, Tobias; Dau, Torsten; Santurette, Sébastien

Auditory Tests for Characterizing Hearing Deficits in Listeners With Various Hearing Abilities: The BEAR Test Battery Journal Article

Frontiers in Neuroscience, 15 (724007), pp. 1-19, 2021.

@article{Frontiers_sept_2021,
title = {Auditory Tests for Characterizing Hearing Deficits in Listeners With Various Hearing Abilities: The BEAR Test Battery},
author = {Raul Sanchez-Lopez and Silje Grini Nielsen and Mouhamad El-Haj-Ali and Federica Bianchi and Michal Fereczkowski and Oscar M Cañete and Mengfan Wu and Tobias Neher and Torsten Dau and Sébastien Santurette},
url = {https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnins.2021.724007/full},
doi = {10.3389/fnins.2021.724007},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-09-29},
journal = {Frontiers in Neuroscience},
volume = {15},
number = {724007},
pages = {1-19},
abstract = {The Better hEAring Rehabilitation (BEAR) project aims to provide a new clinical profiling tool—a test battery—for hearing loss characterization. Although the loss of sensitivity can be efficiently measured using pure-tone audiometry, the assessment of supra-threshold hearing deficits remains a challenge. In contrast to the classical “attenuation-distortion” model, the proposed BEAR approach is based on the hypothesis that the hearing abilities of a given listener can be characterized along two dimensions, reflecting independent types of perceptual deficits (distortions). A data-driven approach provided evidence for the existence of different auditory profiles with different degrees of distortions. Ten tests were included in a test battery, based on their clinical feasibility, time efficiency, and related evidence from the literature. The tests were divided into six categories: audibility, speech perception, binaural processing abilities, loudness perception, spectro-temporal modulation sensitivity, and spectro-temporal resolution. Seventy-five listeners with symmetric, mild-to-severe sensorineural hearing loss were selected from a clinical population. The analysis of the results showed interrelations among outcomes related to
high-frequency processing and outcome measures related to low-frequency processing abilities. The results showed the ability of the tests to reveal differences among individuals and their potential use in clinical settings. },
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}

Wu, Mengfan; Cañete, Oscar M; Schmidt, Jesper Hvass; Fereczkowski, Michal; Neher, Tobias

Influence of Three Auditory Profiles on Aided Speech Perception in Different Noise Scenarios Journal Article

Trends in Hearing, 25 , pp. 1–15, 2021.

@article{doi:10.1177/23312165211023709,
title = {Influence of Three Auditory Profiles on Aided Speech Perception in Different Noise Scenarios},
author = {Mengfan Wu and Oscar M Cañete and Jesper Hvass Schmidt and Michal Fereczkowski and Tobias Neher},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1177/23312165211023709},
doi = {10.1177/23312165211023709},
year = {2021},
date = {2021-06-29},
journal = {Trends in Hearing},
volume = {25},
pages = {1--15},
abstract = {Hearing aid (HA) users differ greatly in their speech-in-noise (SIN) outcomes. This could be because the degree to which current HA fittings can address individual listening needs differs across users and listening situations. In two earlier studies, an auditory test battery and a data-driven method were developed for classifying HA candidates into four distinct auditory profiles differing in audiometric hearing loss and suprathreshold hearing abilities. This study explored aided SIN outcome for three of these profiles in different noise scenarios. Thirty-one older habitual HA users and six young normal-hearing listeners participated. Two SIN tasks were administered: a speech recognition task and a “just follow conversation” task requiring the participants to self-adjust the target-speech level. Three noise conditions were tested: stationary speech-shaped noise, speech-shaped babble noise, and speech-shaped babble noise with competing dialogues. Each HA user was fitted with three HAs from different manufacturers using their recommended procedures. Real-ear measurements were performed to document the final gain settings. The results showed that HA users with mild hearing deficits performed better than HA users with pronounced hearing deficits on the speech recognition task but not the just follow conversation task. Moreover, participants with pronounced hearing deficits obtained different SIN outcomes with the tested HAs, which appeared to be related to differences in HA gain. Overall, these findings imply that current proprietary fitting strategies are limited in their ability to ensure good SIN outcomes, especially for users with pronounced hearing deficits, for whom the choice of device seems most consequential.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}

Fereczkowski, Michal; Dau, Torsten; MacDonald, Ewen N

Comparison of Behavioral and Physiological Measures of the Status of the Cochlear Nonlinearity Journal Article

Trends in Hearing, 25 , pp. 1-11, 2021.

Sanchez-Lopez, Raul; Fereczkowski, Michal; Santurette, Sébastien; Dau, Torsten; Neher, Tobias

Towards Auditory Profile-Based Hearing-Aid Fitting: Fitting Rationale and Pilot Evaluation Journal Article

Audiology Research, 11 (1), pp. 10–21, 2021, ISBN: 2039-4349.

Investigating the Effects of Four Auditory Profiles on Speech Recognition, Overall Quality, and Noise Annoyance With Simulated Hearing-Aid Processing Strategies Journal Article

2020

Wu, Mengfan; Sanchez-Lopez, Raul; El-Haj-Ali, Mouhamad; Nielsen, Silje G; Fereczkowski, Michal; Dau, Torsten; Santurette, Sébastien; Neher, Tobias

Trends in Hearing, 24 , pp. 1-12, 2020.

@article{doi:10.1177/2331216520960861,
title = {Investigating the Effects of Four Auditory Profiles on Speech Recognition, Overall Quality, and Noise Annoyance With Simulated Hearing-Aid Processing Strategies},
author = {Mengfan Wu and Raul Sanchez-Lopez and Mouhamad El-Haj-Ali and Silje G Nielsen and Michal Fereczkowski and Torsten Dau and Sébastien Santurette and Tobias Neher},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1177%2F2331216520960861},
doi = {10.1177/2331216520960861},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-10-19},
journal = {Trends in Hearing},
volume = {24},
pages = {1-12},
abstract = {Effective hearing aid (HA) rehabilitation requires personalization of the HA fitting parameters, but in current clinical practice only the gain prescription is typically individualized. To optimize the fitting process, advanced HA settings such as noise reduction and microphone directionality can also be tailored to individual hearing deficits. In two earlier studies, an auditory test battery and a data-driven approach that allow classifying hearing-impaired listeners into four auditory profiles were developed. Because these profiles were found to be characterized by markedly different hearing abilities, it was hypothesized that more tailored HA fittings would lead to better outcomes for such listeners. Here, we explored potential interactions between the four auditory profiles and HA outcome as assessed with three different measures (speech recognition, overall quality, and noise annoyance) and six HA processing strategies with various noise reduction, directionality, and compression settings. Using virtual acoustics, a realistic speech-in-noise environment was simulated. The stimuli were generated using a HA simulator and presented to 49 habitual HA users who had previously been profiled. The four auditory profiles differed clearly in terms of their mean aided speech reception thresholds, thereby implying different needs in terms of signal-to-noise ratio improvement. However, no clear interactions with the tested HA processing strategies were found. Overall, these findings suggest that the auditory profiles can capture some of the individual differences in HA processing needs and that further research is required to identify suitable HA solutions for them. },
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}

Sanchez-Lopez, Raul H; Fereczkowski, Michal; Neher, Tobias; Santurette, Sébastien; Dau, Torsten

Robust auditory profiling: Improved data-driven method and profile definitions for better hearing rehabilitation Inproceedings

Kressner, Abigail Anne; Regev, Jonathan; Christensen-Dalsgaard, Jakob; Tranebjærg, Lisbeth; Santurette, Sébastien; Dau, Torsten (Ed.): Proceedings of the International Symposium on Auditory and Audiological Research, pp. 281-288, 2020.

Perceptual evaluation of six hearing-aid processing strategies from the perspective of auditory profiling: Insights from the BEAR project Inproceedings

@inproceedings{ISAAR2019_Raul_print,
title = {Robust auditory profiling: Improved data-driven method and profile definitions for better hearing rehabilitation},
author = {Raul H Sanchez-Lopez and Michal Fereczkowski and Tobias Neher and Sébastien Santurette and Torsten Dau},
editor = {Abigail Anne Kressner and Jonathan Regev and Jakob Christensen-Dalsgaard and Lisbeth Tranebjærg and Sébastien Santurette and Torsten Dau },
url = {https://proceedings.isaar.eu/index.php/isaarproc/article/view/2019-32},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-05-13},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Symposium on Auditory and Audiological Research},
volume = {7},
pages = {281-288},
abstract = {Currently, the clinical characterization of hearing deficits for hearing-aid fitting is based on the pure-tone audiogram only. This relies on the assumption that the audiogram can predict performance in complex, supra-threshold tasks. Sanchez-Lopez et al. (2018) hypothesized that the hearing deficits of a given listener, both at threshold and supra-threshold levels, result from two independent types of auditory distortions. The authors performed a data-driven analysis of two large datasets with results from several tests, which led to the identification of four auditory profiles. However, the definition of the two types of distortion was challenged by differences between the two datasets in terms of the tests and listeners considered. In the Better hEAring Rehabilitation (BEAR) project, a new dataset was generated with the aim of overcoming these limitations. A heterogeneous group of listeners was tested using measures of speech intelligibility, loudness perception, binaural processing abilities and spectro-temporal resolution. As a consequence, the auditory profiles of Sanchez-Lopez et al. (2018) were refined. The updated auditory profiles, together with the investigation of optimal hearing-aid compensation strategies, are expected to form a solid basis for improved hearing-aid fitting.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}

Wu, Mengfan; Lopez, Raul Sanchez; El-Haj-Ali, Mouhamad; Nielsen, Silje Grini; Fereczkowski, Michal; Dau, Torsten; Santurette, Sébastien; Neher, Tobias

@inproceedings{ISAAR2019_WU_print,
title = {Perceptual evaluation of six hearing-aid processing strategies from the perspective of auditory profiling: Insights from the BEAR project},
author = {Mengfan Wu and Raul Sanchez Lopez and Mouhamad El-Haj-Ali and Silje Grini Nielsen and Michal Fereczkowski and Torsten Dau and Sébastien Santurette and Tobias Neher},
editor = {Abigail Anne Kressner and Jonathan Regev and Jakob Christensen-Dalsgaard and Lisbeth Tranebjærg and Sébastien Santurette and Torsten Dau },
url = {https://proceedings.isaar.eu/index.php/isaarproc/article/view/2019-30},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-04-08},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Symposium on Auditory and Audiological Research},
volume = {7},
pages = {265-272},
abstract = {The current study forms part of the Better hEAring Rehabilitation (BEAR) project, which aims at developing new clinical tools for characterizing individual hearing loss and for assessing hearing-aid (HA) benefit. Its purpose was to investigate potential interactions between four auditory profiles and three measures of HA outcome obtained for six HA processing strategies. Measurements were carried out in a realistic noise environment at signal-to-noise ratios that were set based on individual aided speech reception thresholds (SRT50). Speech recognition scores and ratings of overall quality and noise annoyance were collected in two spatial conditions. The stimuli were generated with the help of a HA simulator and presented via headphones to 60 older, habitual HA users who had previously been profiled based on a data-driven approach (Sanchez-Lopez et al., 2019). The four auditory profiles differed significantly in terms of mean aided SRT50 and interacted significantly with the HA processing strategies for speech recognition in one spatial condition. Moreover, the correlation-pattern between the speech recognition scores and subjective ratings differed among the auditory profiles.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}

Sanchez-Lopez, Raul; Fereczkowski, Michal; Neher, Tobias; Santurette, Sébastien; Dau, Torsten

Robust Data-Driven Auditory Profiling Towards Precision Audiology Journal Article

Trends in Hearing, 24 , pp. 1-19, 2020.

Assessing the interaction between different auditory profiles and benefit from six hearing aid processing strategies: Insights from the Better hEAring Rehabilitation (BEAR) project Inproceedings

@article{doi:10.1177/2331216520973539,
title = {Robust Data-Driven Auditory Profiling Towards Precision Audiology},
author = {Raul Sanchez-Lopez and Michal Fereczkowski and Tobias Neher and Sébastien Santurette and Torsten Dau},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1177%2F2331216520973539},
doi = {10.1177/2331216520973539},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-01-01},
journal = {Trends in Hearing},
volume = {24},
pages = {1-19},
abstract = {The sources and consequences of a sensorineural hearing loss are diverse. While several approaches have aimed at disentangling the physiological and perceptual consequences of different etiologies, hearing deficit characterization and rehabilitation have been dominated by the results from pure-tone audiometry. Here, we present a novel approach based on data-driven profiling of perceptual auditory deficits that attempts to represent auditory phenomena that are usually hidden by, or entangled with, audibility loss. We hypothesize that the hearing deficits of a given listener, both at hearing threshold and at suprathreshold sound levels, result from two independent types of “auditory distortions.” In this two-dimensional space, four distinct “auditory profiles” can be identified. To test this hypothesis, we gathered a data set consisting of a heterogeneous group of listeners that were evaluated using measures of speech intelligibility, loudness perception, binaural processing abilities, and spectrotemporal resolution. The subsequent analysis revealed that distortion type-I was associated with elevated hearing thresholds at high frequencies and reduced temporal masking release and was significantly correlated with elevated speech reception thresholds in noise. Distortion type-II was associated with low-frequency hearing loss and abnormally steep loudness functions. The auditory profiles represent four robust subpopulations of hearing-impaired listeners that exhibit different degrees of perceptual distortions. The four auditory profiles may provide a valuable basis for improved hearing rehabilitation, for example, through profile-based hearing-aid fitting.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}

2019

Wu, Mengfan; Sanchez-Lopez, Raul; El-Haj-Ali, Mouhamad; Nielsen, Silje; Fereczkowski, Michal; Dau, Torsten; Santurette, Sebastién; Neher, Tobias

Proceedings of the 23rd International Congress on Acoustics (ICA 2019), Aachen, Germany, Sept 9-13 2019., pp. 3849-3856, 2019.

A Clinical Test Battery for Better hEAring Rehabilitation (BEAR). Towards the prediction of individual auditory deficits and hearing-aid benefit Inproceedings

Sanchez-Lopez, Raul; Nielsen, Silje; Cañete, Oscar; Fereczkowski, Michal; Wu, Mengfan; Neher, Tobias; Dau, Torsten; Santurette, Sebastién

Proceedings of the 23rd International Congress on Acoustics (ICA 2019), Aachen, Germany, Sept 9-13 2019., pp. 3841-3848, International Commission of Acoustics 2019.

@inproceedings{ica2019rsl,
title = {A Clinical Test Battery for Better hEAring Rehabilitation (BEAR). Towards the prediction of individual auditory deficits and hearing-aid benefit},
author = {Raul Sanchez-Lopez and Silje Nielsen and Oscar Cañete and Michal Fereczkowski and Mengfan Wu and Tobias Neher and Torsten Dau and Sebastién Santurette},
url = {http://pub.dega-akustik.de/ICA2019/data/articles/000470.pdf},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-09-11},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 23rd International Congress on Acoustics (ICA 2019), Aachen, Germany, Sept 9-13 2019.},
pages = {3841-3848},
organization = {International Commission of Acoustics},
abstract = {One aim of the Better hEAring Rehabilitation (BEAR) project is to define a new clinical profiling tool, a test-battery, for individualized hearing loss characterization. Recently, Sanchez-Lopez et al. (ISAAR 2019) proposed a test battery for hearing deficit characterization. The proposed tests were divided into six categories: audibility, middle-ear analysis, speech perception, binaural-processing abilities, loudness perception, and spectro-temporal resolution. The results of 54 listeners were analyzed using a data-driven approach (Sanchez-Lopez et al., 2018), which provided evidence for the existence of two independent sources of distortion and four different auditory profiles. The classification of the listeners into auditory profiles allows the prediction of the performance of the listeners on different psychoacoustic tasks as well as their expected performance while wearing hearing aids. For the classification, a decision tree with only the most predictive tests is desirable for a correct classification of the listeners. The present study aims to explore the optimal decision tree and to propose a reduced, reliable and time-efficient test battery that can classify listeners into the four auditory profiles in a clinical environment. The clinical test battery will be used in a large-scale study that will help implement a protocol for better hearing rehabilitation.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}

2018

Lopez, Raul Sanchez; Bianchi, Federica; Fereczkowski, Michal; Santurette, Sébastien; Dau, Torsten

Data-Driven Approach for Auditory Profiling and Characterization of Individual Hearing Loss Journal Article

Trends of Hearing, 22 (ISAAR special issue), pp. 1-12, 2018.

@article{TiH2018a,
title = {Data-Driven Approach for Auditory Profiling and Characterization of Individual Hearing Loss},
author = {Raul Sanchez Lopez and Federica Bianchi and Michal Fereczkowski and Sébastien Santurette and Torsten Dau},
url = {https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/2331216518807400},
doi = {10.1177/2331216518807400},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-11-01},
journal = {Trends of Hearing},
volume = {22},
number = {ISAAR special issue},
pages = {1-12},
abstract = {Pure-tone audiometry still represents the main measure to characterize individual hearing loss and the basis for hearing-aid fitting. However, the perceptual consequences of hearing loss are typically associated not only with a loss of sensitivity but also with a loss of clarity that is not captured by the audiogram. A detailed characterization of a hearing loss may be complex and needs to be simplified to efficiently explore the specific compensation needs of the individual listener. Here, it is hypothesized that any listener’s hearing profile can be characterized along two dimensions of distortion: Type I and Type II. While Type I can be linked to factors affecting audibility, Type II reflects non-audibility-related distortions. To test this hypothesis, the individual performance data from two previous studies were reanalyzed using an unsupervised-learning technique to identify extreme patterns in the data, thus forming the basis for different auditory profiles. Next, a decision tree was determined to classify the listeners into one of the profiles. The analysis provides evidence for the existence of four profiles in the data. The most significant predictors for profile identification were related to binaural processing, auditory nonlinearity, and speech-in-noise perception. This approach could be valuable for analyzing other data sets to select the most relevant tests for auditory profiling and propose more efficient hearing-deficit compensation strategies.},
keywords = {},
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tppubtype = {article}
}

Sanchez-Lopez, Raul; Bianchi, Federica; Fereczkowski, Michal; Piechowiak, Tobias; Hau, Ole; Pedersen, Michael Syskind; Behrens, Thomas; Neher, Tobias; Dau, Torsten; Santurette, Sébastien

Technical evaluation of hearing-aid fitting parameters for different auditory profiles Conference

In Proceedings of Euronoise 2018, Crete, Greece, 27-31 May 2018, pp. 381-388, 2018, ISSN: 2226-5147.

@conference{euronoise2018,
title = {Technical evaluation of hearing-aid fitting parameters for different auditory profiles},
author = {Raul Sanchez-Lopez and Federica Bianchi and Michal Fereczkowski and Tobias Piechowiak and Ole Hau and Michael Syskind Pedersen and Thomas Behrens and Tobias Neher and Torsten Dau and Sébastien Santurette},
url = {http://www.euronoise2018.eu/component/contentbuilder/details/10/83/euronoise-2018-technical-evaluation-of-hearing-aid-fitting-parameters-for-different-auditory-profiles?Itemid=259},
issn = { 2226-5147},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-05-30},
booktitle = {In Proceedings of Euronoise 2018, Crete, Greece, 27-31 May 2018, pp. 381-388},
abstract = {Hearing-aid users have reported an increased satisfaction since digital technology and advanced signal processing became available in hearing aids. However, many users still experience difficulties in noisy environments and in complex listening scenarios. Although numerous parameters can be adjusted to provide an individualized hearing solution, hearing-aid fitting currently consists of: 1) the gain prescription and adjustment based on the pure-tone audiogram, 2) the activation of advanced features on-demand, such as beamforming and noise reduction. In a previous study [1], a novel approach for auditory profiling was suggested, where the hearing deficits were characterized according to two types of distortion. This allowed the classification of listeners into four auditory profiles according to a high/low degree of hearing distortions along the two dimensions. The aim of the present study was to evaluate different hearing-aid compensation strategies that may fit the needs of different auditory profiles via technical measures. A hearing-aid simulator, consisting of beamforming, noise reduction, and dynamic range compression, was used to test which parameter spaces and outcome measures may be of interest for a “profile-based hearing-aid fitting”. The simulator consists of two dummy behind-the-ear hearing aids and off-line sound processing performed on a personal computer. Technical measures, such as signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) improvement, envelope degradation, and a metric of spectral distortions, were used to evaluate the effects of different signal processing strategies on the signal at the output of the simulator. Several parameter settings were evaluated using speech in the presence of various interferers at different SNRs. Here, the results of this technical evaluation are presented and discussed, with a view towards identifying the effective compensation strategies for different auditory profiles.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {conference}
}

2017

Lopez, Raul Sanchez; Bianchi, Federica; Fereczkowski, Michal; Santurette, Sébastien; Dau, Torsten

Data-driven approach for auditory profiling Inproceedings

Santurette, Sébastien; Dau, Torsten; Christensen-Dalsgaard, Jakob; Tranebjærg, Lisbeth; Poulsen, Torben (Ed.): Proceedings of the International Symposium on Auditory and Audiological Research: Vol. 6: Adaptive Processes in Hearing, pp. 247-254, The Danavox Jubilee Foundation, 2017, ISBN: 978-87-990013-6-1.

@inproceedings{820875598dff4bf4b7060bb84277a3b8,
title = {Data-driven approach for auditory profiling},
author = {Raul Sanchez Lopez and Federica Bianchi and Michal Fereczkowski and Sébastien Santurette and Torsten Dau},
editor = {Sébastien Santurette and Torsten Dau and Jakob Christensen-Dalsgaard and Lisbeth Tranebjærg and Torben Poulsen},
url = {http://orbit.dtu.dk/files/140683531/ISAAR17_rsalo.pdf},
isbn = {978-87-990013-6-1},
year = {2017},
date = {2017-01-01},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Symposium on Auditory and Audiological Research: Vol. 6: Adaptive Processes in Hearing},
pages = {247-254},
publisher = {The Danavox Jubilee Foundation},
abstract = {Nowadays, the pure-tone audiogram is the main tool used to characterizehearing loss and to fit hearing aids. However, the perceptual consequencesof hearing loss are typically not only associated with a loss of sensitivity, butalso with a clarity loss that is not captured by the audiogram. A detailedcharacterization of hearing loss has to be simplified to efficiently explore thespecific compensation needs of the individual listener. We hypothesized thatany listener’s hearing can be characterized along two dimensions of distortion:type I and type II. While type I can be linked to factors affecting audibility,type II reflects non-audibility-related distortions. To test our hypothesis,the individual performance data from two previous studies were re-analyzedusing an archetypal analysis. Unsupervised learning was used to identifyextreme patterns in the data which form the basis for different auditoryprofiles. Next, a decision tree was determined to classify the listeners intoone of the profiles. The new analysis provides evidence for the existenceof four profiles in the data. The most significant predictors for profileidentification were related to binaural processing, auditory non-linearity andspeech-in-noise perception. The current approach is promising for analyzingother existing data sets in order to select the most relevant tests for auditoryprofiling.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}

Andet

2023

Fereczkowski, Michal; Neher, Tobias

Amplitude compression for listeners with rollover at above-conversational speech levels Conference

16th Congress of the European Federation of Audiology Societies, (0154), European Federation of Audiology Societies 2023.

2022

Fereczkowski, Michal

Hearing-aid amplitude compression for listeners with rollover at above-conversational speech levels Conference

Nordisk Audiologisk Selskabs bi-annual meeting (Book of Abstracts), Nordisk Audiologisk Selskab 2022.

Fereczkowski, Michal; Christiansen, Stine; Sanchez-Lopez, Raul; Neher, Tobias

Hearing-aid amplitude compression for listeners with rollover at above-conversational speech levels Inproceedings

Oral presentation at the Joint Euroregio Baltic Nordic Acoustics Meeting, Aalborg, Denmark, 2022.

Sanchez-Lopez, Raul; Fereczkowski, Michal; Wu, Mengfan; Santurette, Sébastien; Baumann, Monika; Kowalewski, Borys; Piechowiak, Tobias; Ravn, Gert; Narayanan, Sreeram Kaithali; Dau, Torsten; Neher, Tobias

Towards auditory profile-based hearing-aid fittings: BEAR rationale and clinical implementation Inproceedings

Oral presentation at the Joint Euroregio Baltic Nordic Acoustics Meeting, Aalborg, Denmark, 2022.

Fereczkowski, Michal; Neher, Tobias

Rollover effects at above-conversational levels in speech materials with low but not high context Conference

Poster presentation at the Speech in Noise Workshop, (P31), 2022.

2021

Sanchez-Lopez, Raul; Wu, Mengfan; Fereczkowski, Michal; Santurette, Sébastien; Dau, Torsten; Neher, Tobias

Towards auditory profile-based hearing-aid fittings: Insights from the BEAR project Inproceedings

Oral presentation at the International Symposium on Auditory and Audiological Research: Vol 8: The Auditory System Throughout Life – Models, Mechanisms, and Interventions, 2021, 2021.

Fereczkowski, Michal; Mikkelsen, Benedikte Degn; Neher, Tobias

Rollover effects at higher-than-normal levels in speech materials with low but not high context Inproceedings

Oral presentation at the International Symposium on Auditory and Audiological Research: Vol 8: The Auditory System Throughout Life – Models, Mechanisms, and Interventions, 2021.

Robust auditory profiling: Improved data-driven method and profile definitions for better hearing rehabilitation Conference

Fereczkowski, Michal; Neher, Tobias

Can word recognition scores predict aided outcome and guide hearing-aid fitting Conference

48th Erlanger Kolloquium for Audiological Research and Development, Erlangen, Germany, 2021.

Abstract | BibTeX

2019

Sanchez-Lopez, Raul; Fereczkowski, Michal; Neher, Tobias; Santurette, Sebastién; Dau, Torsten

Poster presentation at the International Symposium on Auditory and Audiological Research: Vol. 7: Auditory Learning in Biological and Artificial Systems, (SP.65), The Danavox Jubilee Foundation 2019.

Evaluation of six hearing-aid processing strategies from the perspective of auditory profiling: Insights from the BEAR project Conference

@conference{isaar2019rsl,
title = {Robust auditory profiling: Improved data-driven method and profile definitions for better hearing rehabilitation},
author = {Raul Sanchez-Lopez and Michal Fereczkowski and Tobias Neher and Sebastién Santurette and Torsten Dau},
url = {https://whova.com/embedded/speaker_session_detail/isaar_201908/700951/},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-08-21},
booktitle = {Poster presentation at the International Symposium on Auditory and Audiological Research: Vol. 7: Auditory Learning in Biological and Artificial Systems},
number = {SP.65},
organization = {The Danavox Jubilee Foundation},
abstract = {Currently, clinical characterization of hearing deficits for hearing-aid fitting is based on the pure-tone audiogram. Implicitly, this assumes that the audiogram can predict performance in complex, supra-threshold tasks. Sanchez-Lopez et al. (2018) hypothesized that the hearing deficits of a given listener, both at threshold and supra-threshold levels, result from two independent types of auditory distortions. The authors performed a data-driven analysis of two large datasets with results from several tests, which led to the identification of four auditory profiles. However, the definition of the two types of distortion was challenged by differences between the two datasets in terms of the tests and listeners used. In the Better hEAring Rehabilitation (BEAR) project, a new dataset was generated with the aim of overcoming these limitations. A heterogeneous group of listeners was tested using measures of speech intelligibility, loudness perception, binaural processing abilities and spectro-temporal resolution. Consequently, the auditory profiles of Sanchez-Lopez et al. (2018) were refined. The resultant findings are discussed in connection to previous approaches for hearing-loss classification. The updated auditory profiles, together with the investigation of optimal hearing-aid compensation strategies, may form a solid basis for efficient hearing-aid fitting.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {conference}
}

Wu, Mengfan; Sanchez-Lopez, Raul; El-Haj-Ali, Mouhamad; Nielsen, Silje Grini; Fereczkowski, Michal; Dau, Torsten; Santurette, Sebastién; Neher, Tobias

Poster presentation at the International Symposium on Auditory and Audiological Research: Vol. 7: Auditory Learning in Biological and Artificial Systems, (SP.77), The Danavox Jubilee Foundation 2019.

Auditory profiling as a tool for characterizing individual hearing deficits: Data-driven analysis of the results of the BEAR Test Battery Conference

@conference{isaar2019mw,
title = {Evaluation of six hearing-aid processing strategies from the perspective of auditory profiling: Insights from the BEAR project},
author = {Mengfan Wu and Raul Sanchez-Lopez and Mouhamad El-Haj-Ali and Silje Grini Nielsen and Michal Fereczkowski and Torsten Dau and Sebastién Santurette and Tobias Neher},
url = {https://whova.com/embedded/speaker_session_detail/isaar_201908/700958/},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-08-21},
booktitle = {Poster presentation at the International Symposium on Auditory and Audiological Research: Vol. 7: Auditory Learning in Biological and Artificial Systems},
number = {SP.77},
organization = {The Danavox Jubilee Foundation},
abstract = {The current study forms part of the Better hEAring Rehabilitation (BEAR) project, which aims at developing new clinical tools for characterizing individual hearing loss and for assessing hearing-aid (HA) benefit. Its purpose was to evaluate the interaction between four auditory profiles and three measures of HA outcome obtained for six HA processing strategies. Measurements were carried out in a realistic noise environment at signal-to-noise ratios that were set based on individual speech reception thresholds ('test SNRs'). Speech recognition scores and ratings of overall quality and noise annoyance were collected in two spatial conditions. The stimuli were generated with the help of a HA simulator and presented via headphones to 60 older habitual HA users who had previously been profiled based on a data-driven approach (Sanchez-Lopez et al., Trends in Hearing 2018). The four auditory profiles differed significantly in terms of the test SNRs and interacted significantly with the HA processing strategies for speech recognition in one spatial condition. Moreover, the correlations between the speech recognition scores and subjective ratings differed among the auditory profiles. However, the HA processing strategies leading to the best outcomes were similar across the four auditory profiles.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {conference}
}

Sanchez-Lopez, Raul; Nielsen, Silje Grini; Ej-Haj-Ali, Mouhamad; Cañete, Oscar; Wu, Mengfan; Fereczkowski, Michal; Bianchi, Federica; Neher, Tobias; Dau, Torsten; Santurette, Sebastién

Presentation at the 14th Congress of the European Federation of Audiology Societies (EFAS 2019), Lisbon, Portugal, 22-25 May 2019, (03921), European Federation of Audiology Societies 2019.

Hearing aid processing strategies for listeners with different auditory profiles: Insights from the BEAR project Conference

@conference{EFAS2019RSL,
title = {Auditory profiling as a tool for characterizing individual hearing deficits: Data-driven analysis of the results of the BEAR Test Battery},
author = {Raul Sanchez-Lopez and Silje Grini Nielsen and Mouhamad Ej-Haj-Ali and Oscar Cañete and Mengfan Wu and Michal Fereczkowski and Federica Bianchi and Tobias Neher and Torsten Dau and Sebastién Santurette},
url = {https://fff0e2ea-6f01-41b9-b0dd-7dbdf3580dbb.filesusr.com/ugd/09d8d3_dc3fb64898554097a7427d3d03a1f290.pdf},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-05-22},
booktitle = {Presentation at the 14th Congress of the European Federation of Audiology Societies (EFAS 2019), Lisbon, Portugal, 22-25 May 2019},
number = {03921},
organization = {European Federation of Audiology Societies},
abstract = {Background: One aim of the Better hEAring Rehabilitation (BEAR) project is to define a new clinical profiling tool, a test-battery, for individualized hearing loss characterization. Whereas the loss of sensitivity can be efficiently assessed by pure-tone audiometry, it still remains a challenge to address supra-threshold hearing deficits using appropriate clinical diagnostic tools. In contrast to the classical attenuation-distortion model, the proposed BEAR approach is based on the hypothesis that any listener’s hearing can be characterized along two dimensions reflecting largely independent types of perceptual distortions. Recently, a data-driven approach (Sanchez-Lopez et al., 2018) provided evidence consistent with the existence of two independent sources of distortion, and thus different auditory profiles.

Method: Based on considerations of feasibility, time efficiency and evidence from literature, 11 tests were selected for the clinical test battery. The proposed tests were divided into six categories: audibility, middle-ear analysis, speech perception, binaural-processing abilities, loudness perception, and spectro-temporal resolution. Fifty-seven listeners with symmetric, mild-to-severe sensorineural hearing loss were selected from a clinical population of hearing-aid users who completed all tests included in the battery. The participants were tested in a clinical environment and did not receive systematic training for any of the tasks.

Results: The analysis of the preliminary results will focus on the ability of each test to pinpoint individual differences among the participants, relationships among the different tests, and determining their potential use in clinical settings. Importantly, a parallel study will evaluate the extent to which the outcomes of these tests can be used for hearing-aid fitting.

Conclusion: Based on the results of a data-driven analysis for auditory profiling, the test battery will be refined and implemented as a clinical profiling tool in audiology clinics.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {conference}
}

Background: One aim of the Better hEAring Rehabilitation (BEAR) project is to define a new clinical profiling tool, a test-battery, for individualized hearing loss characterization. Whereas the loss of sensitivity can be efficiently assessed by pure-tone audiometry, it still remains a challenge to address supra-threshold hearing deficits using appropriate clinical diagnostic tools. In contrast to the classical attenuation-distortion model, the proposed BEAR approach is based on the hypothesis that any listener’s hearing can be characterized along two dimensions reflecting largely independent types of perceptual distortions. Recently, a data-driven approach (Sanchez-Lopez et al., 2018) provided evidence consistent with the existence of two independent sources of distortion, and thus different auditory profiles.

Method: Based on considerations of feasibility, time efficiency and evidence from literature, 11 tests were selected for the clinical test battery. The proposed tests were divided into six categories: audibility, middle-ear analysis, speech perception, binaural-processing abilities, loudness perception, and spectro-temporal resolution. Fifty-seven listeners with symmetric, mild-to-severe sensorineural hearing loss were selected from a clinical population of hearing-aid users who completed all tests included in the battery. The participants were tested in a clinical environment and did not receive systematic training for any of the tasks.

Results: The analysis of the preliminary results will focus on the ability of each test to pinpoint individual differences among the participants, relationships among the different tests, and determining their potential use in clinical settings. Importantly, a parallel study will evaluate the extent to which the outcomes of these tests can be used for hearing-aid fitting.

Conclusion: Based on the results of a data-driven analysis for auditory profiling, the test battery will be refined and implemented as a clinical profiling tool in audiology clinics.

Wu, Mengfan; Sanchez-Lopez, Raul; El-Haj-Ali, Mouhamad; Nielsen, Silje Grini; Fereczkowski, Michal; Bianchi, Federica; Dau, Torsten; Santurette, Sebastién; Neher, Tobias

Presentation at the 14th Congress of the European Federation of Audiology Societies (EFAS 2019), Lisbon, Portugal, 22-25 May 2019, (03875), European Federation of Audiology Societies 2019.

@conference{EFAS2019MW,
title = {Hearing aid processing strategies for listeners with different auditory profiles: Insights from the BEAR project},
author = {Mengfan Wu and Raul Sanchez-Lopez and Mouhamad El-Haj-Ali and Silje Grini Nielsen and Michal Fereczkowski and Federica Bianchi and Torsten Dau and Sebastién Santurette and Tobias Neher},
url = {https://fff0e2ea-6f01-41b9-b0dd-7dbdf3580dbb.filesusr.com/ugd/09d8d3_dc3fb64898554097a7427d3d03a1f290.pdf},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-05-22},
booktitle = {Presentation at the 14th Congress of the European Federation of Audiology Societies (EFAS 2019), Lisbon, Portugal, 22-25 May 2019},
number = {03875},
organization = {European Federation of Audiology Societies},
abstract = {Background, The Better hEAring Rehabilitation (BEAR) project pursues the development and evaluation of new, clinically feasible strategies for individual hearing loss diagnosis and hearing aid (HA) fitting. Two essential elements of this research are the design of a new diagnostic test battery for identifying different auditory profiles and linking those profiles to different HA processing strategies. The current study focused on establishing links between four auditory profiles and the benefit from six HA processing strategies.

Material and methods, Sixty older individuals with bilateral mild-to-severe sensorineural hearing losses from a clinical population of HA users participated. Speech-in-noise stimuli were generated with the help of a HA simulator that included directional processing, noise reduction and dynamic range compression. Stimulus presentation was via headphones. Six HA settings differing in terms of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) improvement and temporal and spectral speech distortions were selected for testing based on a comprehensive technical evaluation of different HA parameter settings. Speech-in-noise perception was assessed at fixed SNRs that were chosen based on individual speech reception threshold measurements. In addition, overall preference and noise annoyance were assessed using a multiple stimulus comparison paradigm.

Results, We hypothesize that the perceptual outcomes from the six HA settings will differ across the different auditory profiles. More specifically, we expect listeners showing high sensitivity to temporal and spectral signal changes to perform best with and/or to prefer HA settings that preserve those cues. In contrast, we expect listeners showing low sensitivity to temporal and spectral signal changes to perform best with settings that maximize SNR improvement, independent of any additional signal distortions.

Conclusions, We anticipate that the findings from the current study will provide the basis for the implementation of more individualized HA fitting strategies to be tested subsequently in wearable HAs.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {conference}
}

Background, The Better hEAring Rehabilitation (BEAR) project pursues the development and evaluation of new, clinically feasible strategies for individual hearing loss diagnosis and hearing aid (HA) fitting. Two essential elements of this research are the design of a new diagnostic test battery for identifying different auditory profiles and linking those profiles to different HA processing strategies. The current study focused on establishing links between four auditory profiles and the benefit from six HA processing strategies.

Material and methods, Sixty older individuals with bilateral mild-to-severe sensorineural hearing losses from a clinical population of HA users participated. Speech-in-noise stimuli were generated with the help of a HA simulator that included directional processing, noise reduction and dynamic range compression. Stimulus presentation was via headphones. Six HA settings differing in terms of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) improvement and temporal and spectral speech distortions were selected for testing based on a comprehensive technical evaluation of different HA parameter settings. Speech-in-noise perception was assessed at fixed SNRs that were chosen based on individual speech reception threshold measurements. In addition, overall preference and noise annoyance were assessed using a multiple stimulus comparison paradigm.

Results, We hypothesize that the perceptual outcomes from the six HA settings will differ across the different auditory profiles. More specifically, we expect listeners showing high sensitivity to temporal and spectral signal changes to perform best with and/or to prefer HA settings that preserve those cues. In contrast, we expect listeners showing low sensitivity to temporal and spectral signal changes to perform best with settings that maximize SNR improvement, independent of any additional signal distortions.

Conclusions, We anticipate that the findings from the current study will provide the basis for the implementation of more individualized HA fitting strategies to be tested subsequently in wearable HAs.

2018

Sanchez-Lopez, Raul; Bianchi, Federica; Fereczkowski, Michal; Piechowiak, Tobias; Hau, Ole; Pedersen, Michael Syskind; Behrens, Thomas; Neher, Tobias; Dau, Torsten; Santurette, Sébastien

Technical evaluation of hearing-aid fitting parameters for different auditory profiles Conference

Poster presentation at Danish Technical Audiological Society's annual meeting, 5-6 Oct 2018. Hotel Vejlefjord, Stouby, Denmark, 2018.

Hearing aid processing strategies for listeners with different auditory profiles: Insights from the BEAR project Conference

Wu, Mengfan; El-Haj-Ali, Mouhamad; Sanchez-Lopez, Raul; Fereczkowski, Michal; Bianchi, Federica; Dau, Torsten; Santurette, Sébastien; Neher, Tobias

Poster presentation at Danish Technical Audiological Society's annual meeting, 5-6 Oct 2018. Hotel Vejlefjord, Stouby, Denmark, 2018.

Sanchez-Lopez, Raul; Fereczkowski, Michal; Bianchi, Federica; El-Haj-Ali, Mouhamad; Neher, Tobias; Dau, Torsten; Santurette, Sébastien

Auditory tests for characterizing individual hearing deficits: The BEAR test battery Conference

Poster at International Hearing Aid Research Conference (IHCON 2018), Lake Tahoe, California, US, 15-19 Aug 2018, (C3-P-27), 2018.

Hearing aid processing strategies for listeners with different auditory profiles: Insights from the BEAR project Conference

@conference{IHCON2018b,
title = {Auditory tests for characterizing individual hearing deficits: The BEAR test battery},
author = {Raul Sanchez-Lopez and Michal Fereczkowski and Federica Bianchi and Mouhamad El-Haj-Ali and Tobias Neher and Torsten Dau and Sébastien Santurette},
url = {https://ihcon.org/files/ihcon/files/final_final_ihcon_2018_program_0.pdf},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-08-17},
booktitle = {Poster at International Hearing Aid Research Conference (IHCON 2018), Lake Tahoe, California, US, 15-19 Aug 2018},
number = {C3-P-27},
pages = {49},
abstract = {The Better hEAring Rehabilitation (BEAR) project seeks to develop and assess new clinically feasible strategies for individualized hearing-loss diagnosis and hearing-aid fitting. The aim is to improve current clinical practice, where the fitting process relies on the pure-tone audiogram and trial-and-error methods. These usually result in inconsistent practices and patient dissatisfaction and inefficient service. Existing evidence suggests that the audiogram does not sufficiently describe supra-threshold performance of hearing-impaired listeners. Detailed characterization of hearing deficits can be complex. Therefore, one aim of the BEAR project is to design a hearing test battery for classification of listeners into a small number of auditory profiles. If successful, this BEAR test battery may be refined and reduced to form the basis for improved profile-based hearing-aid fitting protocols.
Method: Based on the reanalysis of existing auditory profiling data and on criteria of their feasibility, time efficiency, and evidence from the literature, eleven potential tests for inclusion in a clinical test battery were selected. The proposed tests were divided into six categories: audibility, middle-ear analysis, speech perception, binaural-processing abilities, loudness perception, and spectro-temporal resolution. Thirty hearing-impaired listeners with symmetric mild to severe sensorineural hearing loss were selected from a clinical population of hearing-aid users. All listeners performed every test included in the battery. The participants were tested in a clinical environment and did not receive systematic training on any of the tasks. Results: The considered tests have so far shown potential for auditory profiling. The analysis of the preliminary results will focus on the ability of each test to pinpoint individual differences among the participants, interrelations among the tests, as well as their usability for the target clinical population. Importantly, a parallel study will evaluate the extent to which the outcomes of these tests can be used for hearing-aid fitting. Finally, the current test battery will be refined for implementation in clinical practice, based on the results of a data-driven analysis for auditory profiling.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {conference}
}

The Better hEAring Rehabilitation (BEAR) project seeks to develop and assess new clinically feasible strategies for individualized hearing-loss diagnosis and hearing-aid fitting. The aim is to improve current clinical practice, where the fitting process relies on the pure-tone audiogram and trial-and-error methods. These usually result in inconsistent practices and patient dissatisfaction and inefficient service. Existing evidence suggests that the audiogram does not sufficiently describe supra-threshold performance of hearing-impaired listeners. Detailed characterization of hearing deficits can be complex. Therefore, one aim of the BEAR project is to design a hearing test battery for classification of listeners into a small number of auditory profiles. If successful, this BEAR test battery may be refined and reduced to form the basis for improved profile-based hearing-aid fitting protocols.
Method: Based on the reanalysis of existing auditory profiling data and on criteria of their feasibility, time efficiency, and evidence from the literature, eleven potential tests for inclusion in a clinical test battery were selected. The proposed tests were divided into six categories: audibility, middle-ear analysis, speech perception, binaural-processing abilities, loudness perception, and spectro-temporal resolution. Thirty hearing-impaired listeners with symmetric mild to severe sensorineural hearing loss were selected from a clinical population of hearing-aid users. All listeners performed every test included in the battery. The participants were tested in a clinical environment and did not receive systematic training on any of the tasks. Results: The considered tests have so far shown potential for auditory profiling. The analysis of the preliminary results will focus on the ability of each test to pinpoint individual differences among the participants, interrelations among the tests, as well as their usability for the target clinical population. Importantly, a parallel study will evaluate the extent to which the outcomes of these tests can be used for hearing-aid fitting. Finally, the current test battery will be refined for implementation in clinical practice, based on the results of a data-driven analysis for auditory profiling.

Wu, Mengfan; El-Haj-Ali, Mouhamad; Sanchez-Lopez, Raul; Fereczkowski, Michal; Bianchi, Federica; Dau, Torsten; Santurette, Sébastien; Neher, Tobias

Presentation at International Hearing Aid Research Conference (IHCON 2018), Lake Tahoe, California, US, 15-19 Aug 2018, (B3-0-2), 2018.

@conference{IHCON2018c,
title = {Hearing aid processing strategies for listeners with different auditory profiles: Insights from the BEAR project},
author = {Mengfan Wu and Mouhamad El-Haj-Ali and Raul Sanchez-Lopez and Michal Fereczkowski and Federica Bianchi and Torsten Dau and Sébastien Santurette and Tobias Neher},
url = {https://ihcon.org/files/ihcon/files/final_final_ihcon_2018_program_0.pdf},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-08-16},
booktitle = {Presentation at International Hearing Aid Research Conference (IHCON 2018), Lake Tahoe, California, US, 15-19 Aug 2018},
number = {B3-0-2},
pages = {29},
abstract = {Background: The Better hEAring Rehabilitation (BEAR) project pursues the development and evaluation of new clinically feasible strategies for individual hearing loss diagnosis and hearing aid fitting. Two essential elements of this research are the design of a new diagnostic test battery for identifying different auditory profiles and linking those profiles to hearing aid processing strategies. The current study focused on establishing links between four auditory profiles and benefit from six hearing aid processing strategies.
Methods: Participants were 30 older individuals with bilateral mild-to-severe sensorineural hearing losses who were selected from a clinical population of hearing aid users. Speech-in-noise stimuli were generated with the help of a hearing aid simulator that included directional processing, noise reduction and dynamic range compression. Stimulus presentation was via headphones. Six hearing aid settings that differed in terms of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) improvement and temporal and spectral speech distortions were selected for testing based on a comprehensive technical evaluation of different parameterisations of the hearing aid simulator. Speech-in-noise perception was assessed at fixed input SNRs that were selected based on individual speech reception threshold (SRT50) measurements. Participants were required to recognize five-word, low-context sentences embedded in two realistic noise backgrounds. In addition, overall preference and noise annoyance were assessed using a multiple stimulus comparison paradigm.
Results: We hypothesize that the perceptual outcomes from the six hearing aid settings will differ across listeners with different auditory profiles. More specifically, we expect listeners showing high sensitivity to temporal and spectral differences to perform best with and/or to favour hearing aid settings that preserve those cues. In contrast, we expect listeners showing low sensitivity to temporal and spectral differences to perform best with and/or to favour settings that maximize SNR improvement, independent of any additional speech distortions. Altogether, we anticipate that these findings will provide the basis for more individualized fitting strategies to be implemented in wearable hearing aids.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {conference}
}

Background: The Better hEAring Rehabilitation (BEAR) project pursues the development and evaluation of new clinically feasible strategies for individual hearing loss diagnosis and hearing aid fitting. Two essential elements of this research are the design of a new diagnostic test battery for identifying different auditory profiles and linking those profiles to hearing aid processing strategies. The current study focused on establishing links between four auditory profiles and benefit from six hearing aid processing strategies.
Methods: Participants were 30 older individuals with bilateral mild-to-severe sensorineural hearing losses who were selected from a clinical population of hearing aid users. Speech-in-noise stimuli were generated with the help of a hearing aid simulator that included directional processing, noise reduction and dynamic range compression. Stimulus presentation was via headphones. Six hearing aid settings that differed in terms of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) improvement and temporal and spectral speech distortions were selected for testing based on a comprehensive technical evaluation of different parameterisations of the hearing aid simulator. Speech-in-noise perception was assessed at fixed input SNRs that were selected based on individual speech reception threshold (SRT50) measurements. Participants were required to recognize five-word, low-context sentences embedded in two realistic noise backgrounds. In addition, overall preference and noise annoyance were assessed using a multiple stimulus comparison paradigm.
Results: We hypothesize that the perceptual outcomes from the six hearing aid settings will differ across listeners with different auditory profiles. More specifically, we expect listeners showing high sensitivity to temporal and spectral differences to perform best with and/or to favour hearing aid settings that preserve those cues. In contrast, we expect listeners showing low sensitivity to temporal and spectral differences to perform best with and/or to favour settings that maximize SNR improvement, independent of any additional speech distortions. Altogether, we anticipate that these findings will provide the basis for more individualized fitting strategies to be implemented in wearable hearing aids.

Sanchez-Lopez, Raul; Fereczkowski, Michal; Bianchi, Federica; Santurette, Sébastien; Dau, Torsten

Data-driven auditory profiling as a tool for defining Better hEAring Rehabilitation (BEAR) Conference

Poster at International Hearing Aid Research Conference (IHCON 2018), Lake Tahoe, California, US, 15-19 Aug 2018, (B3-P-04), 2018.

@conference{IHCON2018a,
title = {Data-driven auditory profiling as a tool for defining Better hEAring Rehabilitation (BEAR)},
author = {Raul Sanchez-Lopez and Michal Fereczkowski and Federica Bianchi and Sébastien Santurette and Torsten Dau},
url = {https://ihcon.org/files/ihcon/files/final_final_ihcon_2018_program_0.pdf},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-08-16},
booktitle = {Poster at International Hearing Aid Research Conference (IHCON 2018), Lake Tahoe, California, US, 15-19 Aug 2018},
number = {B3-P-04},
pages = {32},
abstract = {Background: While the audiogram still stands as the main tool for selecting hearing-aid compensation strategies in audiological clinics, there is ample evidence that loss of hearing sensitivity cannot fully account for common difficulties encountered by people with sensorineural hearing loss, such as understanding speech in noisy environments. Forty years after R. Plomp proposed his attenuation-distortion model of hearing impairment, it remains a challenge to address the distortion component, mainly related to suprathreshold deficits, via adequate clinical diagnostics and corresponding hearing-aid compensation strategies. Inspired by the different auditory profiling approaches used in the literature, a major aim of the Better hEAring Rehabilitation (BEAR) project is to define a new clinical profiling tool, a test battery, for individualized hearing loss characterization.
Methods: The proposed BEAR approach is based on the hypothesis that any listener’s hearing can be characterized along two dimensions reflecting largely independent types of perceptual distortions. In order to keep the approach as neutral as possible, no a priori assumption was made about the nature of the two distortion types. Instead, a statistical analysis method, combining unsupervised and supervised learning, was applied to existing data. The aim was to provide a tool to help define the two distortion types, such that potentially relevant tests for classifying listeners into different auditory profiles could be identified. So far, the data from two auditory profiling studies were reanalyzed based on this approach. First, an unsupervised-learning technique including archetypal analysis was used to identify extreme patterns in the data, forming the basis for different auditory profiles. Next, a decision tree was determined to classify the listeners into one of the profiles.
Results: The data-driven analysis provided consistent evidence for the existence of two independent sources of distortion, and thus different auditory profiles, in the data. The results suggested that the first distortion type was related to loss of sensitivity at high frequencies as well as reduced peripheral compression and frequency selectivity, while the second distortion type was linked to binaural temporal-fine-structure processing abilities as well as low-frequency sensitivity loss. The audiogram was not found to reflect an independent dimension on its own, and the most informative predictors for profile identification beyond the audiogram were related to temporal processing, binaural processing, compressive peripheral nonlinearity, and speech-in-noise perception. The current approach can be used to analyze other existing data sets and may help define an optimal test battery to achieve efficient clinical auditory profiling.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {conference}
}

Background: While the audiogram still stands as the main tool for selecting hearing-aid compensation strategies in audiological clinics, there is ample evidence that loss of hearing sensitivity cannot fully account for common difficulties encountered by people with sensorineural hearing loss, such as understanding speech in noisy environments. Forty years after R. Plomp proposed his attenuation-distortion model of hearing impairment, it remains a challenge to address the distortion component, mainly related to suprathreshold deficits, via adequate clinical diagnostics and corresponding hearing-aid compensation strategies. Inspired by the different auditory profiling approaches used in the literature, a major aim of the Better hEAring Rehabilitation (BEAR) project is to define a new clinical profiling tool, a test battery, for individualized hearing loss characterization.
Methods: The proposed BEAR approach is based on the hypothesis that any listener’s hearing can be characterized along two dimensions reflecting largely independent types of perceptual distortions. In order to keep the approach as neutral as possible, no a priori assumption was made about the nature of the two distortion types. Instead, a statistical analysis method, combining unsupervised and supervised learning, was applied to existing data. The aim was to provide a tool to help define the two distortion types, such that potentially relevant tests for classifying listeners into different auditory profiles could be identified. So far, the data from two auditory profiling studies were reanalyzed based on this approach. First, an unsupervised-learning technique including archetypal analysis was used to identify extreme patterns in the data, forming the basis for different auditory profiles. Next, a decision tree was determined to classify the listeners into one of the profiles.
Results: The data-driven analysis provided consistent evidence for the existence of two independent sources of distortion, and thus different auditory profiles, in the data. The results suggested that the first distortion type was related to loss of sensitivity at high frequencies as well as reduced peripheral compression and frequency selectivity, while the second distortion type was linked to binaural temporal-fine-structure processing abilities as well as low-frequency sensitivity loss. The audiogram was not found to reflect an independent dimension on its own, and the most informative predictors for profile identification beyond the audiogram were related to temporal processing, binaural processing, compressive peripheral nonlinearity, and speech-in-noise perception. The current approach can be used to analyze other existing data sets and may help define an optimal test battery to achieve efficient clinical auditory profiling.

2017

Lopez, Raul Sanchez; Bianchi, Federica; Fereczkowski, Michal; Santurette, Sébastien; Dau, Torsten

An extended test battery for characterizing hearing deficits Conference

Dansk Teknisk Audiologisk Årsmøde, Vejle, Danmark, 9-10 september, 2017.

Lopez, Raul Sanchez; Bianchi, Federica; Fereczkowski, Michal; Santurette, Sébastien; Dau, Torsten

Auditory profiling through computational data analysis Conference

Poster presented at the 1st International Workshop on Challenges in Hearing Assistive Technology (CHAT-2017), Stockholm, Sweden, 2017.

Spectro-temporal modulation sensitivity and discrimination in normal hearing and hearing-impaired listeners Conference

2016

Lopez, Raul Sanchez; Fereczkowski, Michal; Santurette, Sébastien; Dau, Torsten

Poster presented at Danish Technical Audiological Society's annual meeting, 9-10 Sep 2016, Hotel Vejlefjord, Stouby, Denmark, 2016.

Maximum aided word recognition score and rollover presence at higher-than-normal speech levels predict hearing-aid outcome effectively Inproceedings

0202

Fereczkowski, Michal; Neher, Tobias

Oral presentation at the International Symposium on Auditory and Audiological Research: Vol 8: The Auditory System Throughout Life – Models, Mechanisms, and Interventions, 0202.