Signal Processing in Hearing Aids

Abstract

Since the introduction of the first commercial digital hearing aid in 1996, the possibilities of digital signal processing (DSP) have increasingly been exploited in hearing aids. DSP allows for the implementation of signal processing schemes (i.e., “algorithms”) that have no counterpart in the analog domain and thus offers new, interesting perspectives for the rehabilitation of hearing impairment, only parts of which have been realized to date. This section reviews the processing schemes currently used in digital hearing aids and outlines the main lines of research toward improved processing schemes.