Amplification II > 4 - Compression > Flashcards

4 - Compression Flashcards

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1
Q

What was used before compression was possible?

A

Peak clipping

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2
Q

How did peak clipping work?

A
  • Peak clipping results in distortion, leads to poor speech perception, and degrades intelligibility at high inputs
  • If the output is no longer a sine wave, as there is missing information to process from in the input signal
  • If anything came over the top amplitude, it was cut off
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3
Q

What is the main goal of compression?

A

A main goal of compression is to compress the range of sound levels in the environment so that this range can fit in the reduced dynamic range of the person with hearing loss

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4
Q

Why is compression important for SNHL?

A
  • SNHL has a reduced DR (dependent on the slope and configuration of the hearing loss)
  • SNHL needs more audibility to hear the soft sounds without overamplifying the loud sounds
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5
Q

Why can compression be difficult?

A

Difficult to restore audibility for soft sounds without loud sounds being over-amplified and getting uncomfortably loud

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6
Q

What are the 4 main purposes of compression?

A

1) Maintains a perception of “soft”, “moderate”, and “loud” sounds by fitting the sound into the residual dynamic range
2) Maintains a comfortable listening levels for patients
3) Reduces the adverse effects of loud inputs
4) Compression helps to preserve the waveform and helps to maintain speech recognition ability

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7
Q

What are the 4 components of compression in real life?

A

1) A loud talker (or the patient’s own voice) may trigger the compression parameters
2) The next talker is a soft spoken person (the hearing aid is in a quieter state)
3) The HA needs to provide more gain for this soft spoken person but it is slow acting, so it provides insufficient amplification for the beginning of this person’s conversational turn
4) Meanwhile, other environmental noises are occurring

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8
Q

Compression is what 3 things?

A

Compression is dynamic, changing, and variable

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9
Q

How does compression effect the waveform?

A
  • Through temporal pattern changes
  • With no compression, peaks and valleys are well defined (a well defined envelope)
  • With compression, the temporal pattern is altered and the waveform is modified
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10
Q

Define compression threshold (CT)

A

Level of the signal that will activate compression
Also called “Compression Kneepoint” or “Threshold Kneepoint”

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11
Q

Define compression ratio (CR)

A
  • Related to the slope on the INPUT-OUTPUT (I-O) function or degree to which the signal is compressed (how much compression is applied)
  • Example: 10 dB input signal, 10 dB output signal: 1:1, vs.10 dB input signal, 5 dB output signal: 2:1
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12
Q

Define WDRC

A

WDRC occurs when we are applying compression to a wide range of inputs and frequencies over the speech spectrum (this means a relatively low Compression Threshold (typically below 55-50 dB)

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13
Q

Does everyone need WDRC?

A
  • No, not everyone needs WDRC
  • Mild losses don’t need WDRC is they have good DR
  • CHL should have a large DR as long as we can make sound loud enough
  • Mostly just SNHL needs WDRC
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14
Q

Remember, ____ sounds more natural than ____

A

linear amplification, compressed applied sounds

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15
Q

Should compression be used for mild losses?

A

compression may not be needed for audibility and comfort

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16
Q

Should compression be used for CHL?

A

May not need compression if the dynamic range is maintained

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17
Q

Should compression be used for sloping or moderate/severe loss?

A

Compression may be required at some frequencies, but not others. Intelligibility for soft speech is better with compression when SNHL is present

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18
Q

Should compression be used for severe loss?

A

Compression aids to accommodate for reduced dynamic range, (shorter release times may provide better audibility of speech)

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19
Q

Should compression be used for NIHL?

A

For patients with NIHL, some frequencies may not need any compression, but may need compression where the SNHL is existing (sloping moderate/severe)

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20
Q

How is compression controlled or set?

A
  • We can adjust the amount of gain at soft, moderate, loud inputs and MPO in the software and manufacturer’s can have different ways of making this adjustment (we verify the gain through REMs)
  • Generally, we are not specifically selecting a compression kneepoint or choosing a ratio (although some manufacturers allow this), but changing the gain at different inputs effects the above mentioned parameters effectively alters the compression ratios and compression thresholds
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21
Q

____ settings can effect compression parameters too

A

MPO

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22
Q

Raising vs. reducing the MPO

A
  • Raising the MPO – more potential room for amplitude changes
  • Reduce the MPO – tell the HA that it is going to compress to just above that gap
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23
Q

What happens if a CT is set to low?

A

Too low a CT (40 dB or less) may be rejected by users because low level noise is amplified too much, but low CT may be acceptable if HA also has expansion

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24
Q

If a HA has ____ you can sometimes get away with a lower CT

A

Expansion

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25
How does compression work in multichannel HAs?
- Input signal is divided into multiple frequency bands/channels - Each channel has its own compression system - The CR or CT can be different within each channel to accommodate a person's dynamic range that changes with frequency (e.g., sloping loss)
26
What are we concerned about in these bands for communication and speech?
Speech falls across a wide range and different intensities
27
Compression ratios are always in reference to ____
1
28
Does a premium or entry-level HA have more channels?
Will have more channels to adjust on premium devices
29
How long does syllabic compression take?
RT (release time) about the length of a syllable (50 to 150 ms)
30
How long does phonemic compression take?
RT (release time) about the length of a phoneme (5 to 40 ms)
31
What is spectral smearing?
Compression in multi-channel hearing aids can result in spectral smearing when each channel is working independently. When sound is divided spectrally into channels, amplification for some frequency regions may also fall into other adjacent areas
32
What two things can spectral smearing cause?
1) distortion of formant information 2) loss of acoustic details
33
What two things can cause spectral smearing?
- More channels= more potential smearing - Higher CR = more potential smearing
34
Speech has ____ range, from loudest vowels to softest unvoiced consonants.
~30-dB
35
Loud ____ vowels may mask adjacent weak ____ consonants
Low Frequency, High Frequency
36
____ compression helps by increasing the gain for weak phonemes
Fast-acting
37
Define attack time (AT)
- Refers to the time it takes to turn down the gain in response to and increase in the signal level. The attack times can vary (usually 1-20 ms) - 3 dB stabilization
38
Define release time (RT)
- Refers to the time it takes to turn up the gain in response to a decrease in the signal level. The release times can vary (20-30 ms up to approximately 5 seconds) - 4 dB stabilization
39
How does AT and RT work in real time?
When a high input comes in, AT reduces the gain and stabilizes the sound, then after the sound RT amplifies the sound again
40
Can you change the AT and RT on HAs?
- Cannot change the programming these on most hearing aids - No agreement on optimal AT & RT
41
What circumstances would a fast attack time be of benefit?
- Door slamming, plate dropping, scream, dog barking, fireworks, for someone working on a construction site - Fast AT are generally preferable because it provides comfort for our patient
42
What is short/fast RT best for?
Short RT may provide better speech audibility; with fast RT, gain recovers quicker for soft consonants
43
What happens when RT is too fast?
Slight distortion and “pumping” may be audible
44
What happens when RT is too slow?
- Low gain for weak consonants. If the delay in the gain restored slowly, there may be audibility gaps for our patients - HF consonant could be missed because RT isn’t happening until that part is over
45
When preservation on the variation between phonemes and syllables in speech is required for understanding, a release time will generally need to be within ____
50 ms
46
What does a longer RT preserve?
Longer RT preserves a more natural amplitude contrast between vowels and consonants
47
What kind of patients is longer RT best for?
Longer RT may be best for patients with cognitive impairments
48
What are 6 drawbacks/disadvantages of fast acting compression?
1) Distortions of temporal and spectral envelope of speech 2) Fast RT tends to flatten the envelope: 3) Noise is more noticeable. 4) If noise is louder than speech, then potentially more gain for noise than speech, therefore S/N may be made worse. 5) Inter-aural level difference between two hearing aids may be reduced - A sound from the left arriving at the right HA will be softer and therefore will receive more gain - This affects localization or spatial awareness 6) The combination of fast RT and high CR can cause "pumping effects" - Rapid gain changes may be perceived by the wearer
49
Hearing aids can have ____ times dependant on the stimulus that triggered the change
Adaptive release
50
What 5 patients are sensitive to temporal and structure cues?
1) Dependent on the Envelope of the Signal (because they can’t fill in the gaps due to cognition) 2) Low Cognition 3) Low Contextual Cues: when guessing or “filling in the blanks” are not possible 4) Elderly 5) Severe Hearing Loss: spectral cues from the signal itself may not be obtainable- more reliant on temporal cues within the signal to aid in understanding
51
What are 4 advantages of slow acting compression?
1) Maintains the intensity relationships between speech sounds. - Less distortions of temporal and spectral envelope of speech - Better sound quality 2) Better speech perception (Jenstad and Souza, 2005) 3) Adults with hearing loss prefer longer RT (find sound quality more natural) (Hanson, 2002) 4) Adults with poor working memory and cognitive decline perform better with slower RT (Cox & Xu, 2014; Souza & Sirow, 2014). - Particularly in difficult listening situations or with less redundant speech materials
52
Working memory and poor memory
53
What are 2 advantages of lower CRs?
1) Better speech perception with lower CR 2) Adults with hearing loss prefer lower CR - Keep CR as low as we can when keeping the gain curves and comfort in mind
54
How does adaptive RT work?
- Release time depends on duration of loud signal - Very short (~20 ms) for sudden short intense sounds, e.g., door slam. - Gain rapidly returns when loud sound is over - Longer (~200 ms) for longer lasting loud sounds - Helps with comfort of loud transient sounds - Helps with audibility of soft sounds after a loud sound
55
How does multiple systems working together work with adaptive compression?
- Fast acting compression is applied to softer sounds, to help with audibility. - Slow acting compression is applied to medium and loud sounds, where audibility is better, to help preserve the waveform.
56
What are 5 trouble shooting things to look at when a patient complains of sound distortion ("my voice doesn't sound natural")?
1) Do other people's voice also sound distorted? 2) Do high frequencies need a boost for more clarity? 3) Is it occlusion? 4) Are CR too high? 5) Is MPO too low (insufficient headroom)?
57
Based on REM/2-cc measures, what is the likely cause for this patient's complaint ("my voice doesn't sound natural")?
- Not much headroom - Try to raise the MPO in the LFs - If you make these changes and the patient is still complaining look at venting and see if you can adjust OE
58
What are 6 things to look at when interpreting REMs?
1) Is REAR85 below UCLs? 2) Is average speech (65 dB SPL) meeting targets? 3) Is soft speech (55 dB SPL) audible? 4) Is loud speech (75 dB SPL) below REAR85? 5) Is there headroom between REAR with loud speech and REAR85? 6) If not, modify the CR and/or MPO.
59
What are the 5 benefits of compression?
1) Reduces discomfort from loud sounds (through output limiting) 2) Reduces distortion of loud sounds (compared to peak clipping) 3) Increases audibility of soft consonants (if fast RT) 4) Reduces annoyance of loud transient sounds (through fast AT) 5) Reduces need for volume control
60
What are the 3 limitations of compression?
- Alters the temporal and spectral  envelope of speech - Fast RT means rapid gain increases  during pauses in speech, i.e., more  gain for low level noise than for speech  (S/N made worse) - May reduce ability to localize sounds
61
What are 4 tips for success when setting CRs?
1) To help preserve speech intelligibility, don't set the CR higher than needed! 2) Try to keep CR below 2.0:1 (this is a natural sound quality for most patients) 3) Avoid CR > 3 in hearing aids with fast release times 4) Make adjustments based on REMs and patient complaints
62
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