A general-purpose hearing aid prescription, simulation and testing system

The authors describe a comprehensive, integrated, microcomputer-based facility for research on hearing aid fitting and for clinical use. The system first applies formal prescription rules to audiometric measures that have been obtained from an individual patient to predict which hearing aid amplification function is likely to provide the optimal benefit for a hearing-impaired listener. It then designs and implements a filter in a digital-signal processing (DSP) board that precisely implements the desired gain function. Speech intelligibility and listener preferences can then be measured to evaluate the prescribed hearing aid gain function, using efficient, computer-based testing procedures. The system requires an IBM/AT compatible microcomputer, an ARIEL DSP-16 board, filters and associated analog audio equipment, and a mouse