This post accompanies the paper “Adaptive Binaural Filtering for a Multiple-Talker Listening System Using Remote and On-Ear Microphones” presented at WASPAA 2021 (PDF).
Wireless assistive listening technology
Hearing aids and other listening devices can help people to hear better by amplifying quiet sounds. But amplification alone is not enough in loud environments like restaurants, where the sound from a conversation partner is buried in background noise, or when the talker is far away, like in a large classroom or a theater. To make sound easier to understand, we need to bring the sound source closer to the listener. While we often cannot physically move the talker, we can do the next best thing by placing a microphone on them.
Remote microphones make it easier to hear by transmitting sound directly from a talker to a listener. Conventional remote microphones only work with one talker at a time.
When a remote microphone is placed on or close to a talker, it captures speech with lower noise than the microphones built into hearing aid earpieces. The sound also has less reverberation since it does not bounce around the room before reaching the listener. In clinical studies, remote microphones have been shown to consistently improve speech understanding in noisy environments. In our interviews of hearing technology users, we found that people who use remote microphones love them – but with the exception of K-12 schools, where remote microphones are often legally required accommodations, very few people bother to use them.