Device delay mismatch and speech recognition (Richter et al., 2024)

Purpose: Cochlear implant (CI) recipients who listen with a hearing aid (HA) in the contralateral ear, known as bimodal listeners, demonstrate individual variability in speech recognition in noise. This variability may be due in part to differences in the processing delays of the CI and HA devices. This study investigated the influence of matching the processing delays of CI and HA devices on masked speech recognition for bimodal listeners.Method: Twelve postlingually deafened adult CI recipients completed a task of masked speech recognition in two listening conditions: (a) independent default CI and HA processing delays (mismatched) and (b) with their HA-specific delay applied to the CI processing delay (matched). Speech recognition was evaluated with AzBio sentences presented in a 10-talker masker at a 0 dB SNR. The target was presented from the front loudspeaker at 0° azimuth, and the masker was co-located with the target, presented 90° toward the CI ear, or presented 90° toward the HA ear.Results: There was a significant main effect for target-to-masker configuration, with better performance when the masker was spatially separated from the target. Better masked speech recognition was observed in the matched condition as compared to the mismatched condition.Conclusion: Bimodal listeners may experience better masked speech recognition when the processing delay of the CI is individualized to match the processing delay of the contralateral HA.Supplemental Material S1. Raw data of speech recognition across masker configurations for the sample, ranked by age at time of test. Listed in percent correct for each condition.Richter, M. E., Rooth, M. A., & Dillon, M. T. (2024). Influence of matching the processing delays of cochlear implant and hearing aid devices for bimodal listeners on speech recognition in noise. American Journal of Audiology, 33(4), 1350–1355. https://doi.org/10.1044/2024_AJA-24-00026

目的：双耳聆听者，即在对侧耳使用助听器（HA）的耳蜗植入（CI）接受者，在噪声中的语音识别表现存在个体差异。这种差异部分可能源于CI与HA设备处理延迟的差异。本研究旨在探究匹配CI与HA设备处理延迟对双耳聆听者掩蔽语音识别的影响。
方法：十二名后天聋的成人CI接受者完成了两项听音条件下的掩蔽语音识别任务：（a）独立默认的CI和HA处理延迟（不匹配）和（b）将助听器特定的延迟应用于CI处理延迟（匹配）。语音识别评估采用AzBio句子，在0 dB信噪比下由10人说话者掩蔽器呈现。目标信号从前置扬声器以0°方位角发出，掩蔽器与目标信号共定位，指向CI耳90°或指向HA耳90°。
结果：目标与掩蔽器配置对识别性能有显著的主效应，当掩蔽器在空间上与目标信号分离时，表现更佳。与不匹配条件相比，匹配条件下观察到更好的掩蔽语音识别。
结论：当CI的处理延迟个性化以匹配对侧HA的处理延迟时，双耳聆听者可能体验到更好的掩蔽语音识别。
补充材料S1：按测试时年龄排序的样本在掩蔽器配置下的语音识别原始数据。按每种条件下正确百分比列出。
Richter, M. E., Rooth, M. A., & Dillon, M. T. (2024). 匹配耳蜗植入与助听器设备处理延迟对双耳聆听者噪声中语音识别影响的探究。美国听力学杂志，33(4)，1350–1355. https://doi.org/10.1044/2024_AJA-24-00026