Hung-Yue Chang1, Ching-Hsing Luo1,2, Tun-Shin Lo3,4, Cheng-Chi Tai1. 1. Department of Electrical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University , Tainan , Taiwan. 2. School of Data and Computer Science, Sun Yat-Sen University , Guangzhou , China. 3. School of Speech Language Pathology and Audiology, Chung Shan Medical University , Taichung , Taiwan. 4. Department of Otolaryngology, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital , Taichung , Taiwan.
Abstract
Objective: This study investigated hearing screening tests by using a custom-designed compensated hybrid active noise cancellation (ANC) earphone and compared it with TDH39 and Audiocups audiometric earphones under conditions of quiet, 45 dB HL masking narrowband, wideband speech-shaped, and white noise. Design: The hearing screening tests were conducted to characterise the shifts of screening results under noisy conditions, and real-ear attenuations at thresholds were assessed to quantify real-ear noise reduction performance. Study sample: Twenty-four normal-hearing adults, aged 20-25 years, participated in this study. Results: The ANC earphone exhibited significantly lower/better mean screening results than those of the TDH39 earphone at 250 and 500 Hz and those of the Audiocups earphone at 250 Hz under conditions of narrowband, speech-shaped, and white noise. Compared with the TDH39 earphone at 250 and 500 Hz, applying a hybrid ANC earphone reduced the shifts in screening results by 14.2 and 12.3 dB, respectively, under the narrowband noise condition. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that the compensated hybrid ANC earphone provided lower shifts of screening results than the TDH39 and Audiocups earphones and that it was capable of screening at 250 and 500 Hz from 20 dB HL under 45 dB HL masking narrowband and wideband noise.
Objective: This study investigated hearing screening tests by using a custom-designed compensated hybrid active noise cancellation (ANC) earphone and compared it with TDH39 and Audiocups audiometric earphones under conditions of quiet, 45 dB HL masking narrowband, wideband speech-shaped, and white noise. Design: The hearing screening tests were conducted to characterise the shifts of screening results under noisy conditions, and real-ear attenuations at thresholds were assessed to quantify real-ear noise reduction performance. Study sample: Twenty-four normal-hearing adults, aged 20-25 years, participated in this study. Results: The ANC earphone exhibited significantly lower/better mean screening results than those of the TDH39 earphone at 250 and 500 Hz and those of the Audiocups earphone at 250 Hz under conditions of narrowband, speech-shaped, and white noise. Compared with the TDH39 earphone at 250 and 500 Hz, applying a hybrid ANC earphone reduced the shifts in screening results by 14.2 and 12.3 dB, respectively, under the narrowband noise condition. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that the compensated hybrid ANC earphone provided lower shifts of screening results than the TDH39 and Audiocups earphones and that it was capable of screening at 250 and 500 Hz from 20 dB HL under 45 dB HL masking narrowband and wideband noise.
Keywords:
Active noise cancellation (ANC); hearing screening test; real-ear attenuation at threshold (REAT); threshold shift