Study report SoundSmoothing - Siemens Hearing Instruments

Conclusions
Although SoundSmoothing has its greatest effect on transient sounds with a high input level like door
slamming or hammering, the subjects preferred SoundSmoothing “on” for all transient noises, including
softer sounds with a frequent amplitude fluctuation (e.g. paper rustling, cutlery). There were absolutely no
indications that SoundSmoothing has any negative effects on speech recognition or localization. The new
CENTRA products are the first hearing instruments to be equipped with SoundSmoothing. It is expected that
SoundSmoothing will soon be a standard feature in many high-end hearing instruments.
References
O‘Brien, A., Keidser, G., Convery, E., Dillon, H. (2006).
Evaluation of a transient noise reduction algorithm.
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Hernandez, A. R., Chalupper, J., Powers, T. A. (2006).
An assessment of everyday noises and their annoyance.
The Hearing Review, 13(7), 16–20.
Bench, R. J., Doyle, J., Daly, N., Lind, C. (1979).
The BKB/A Speechreading (Lipreading) Test.
Victoria: La Trobe University.
Byrne, D., Parkinson, A., Newall, P., in:
Studebaker, G. A., Bess, F. H., and Beck, L. editors. (1991).
Modified hearing aid selection procedures for severe/profound
hearing losses: Parkton, MD.
York Press. p. 295–300.
Keidser, G., Rohrseitz, K., Dillon, H., Hamacher, V.,
Carter, L., Rass, U., Convery, E. (2006).
The effect of multi-channel wide dynamic range compression,
noise reduction, and directional microphone on horizontal
localisation performance in hearing aid wearers.
Int J Audiol., in press.
Siemens Audiologische Technik GmbH (2006).
SoundSmoothing: A new algorithm to reduce the annoyance
of noise.
Siemens
Audiologische Technik GmbH
Gebbertstrasse 125
91058 Erlangen
Germany
Phone +49 (9131) 308-0
www.siemens.com/hearing