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Haptic sound-localisation for use in cochlear implant and hearing-aid users

Users of hearing-assistive devices often struggle to locate and segregate sounds, which can make listening in schools, cafes, and busy workplaces extremely challenging. A recent study in unilaterally implanted CI users showed that sound-localisation was improved when the audio received by behind-the...

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Autores principales: Fletcher, Mark D., Zgheib, Jana
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7447810/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32843659
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-70379-2
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author Fletcher, Mark D.
Zgheib, Jana
author_facet Fletcher, Mark D.
Zgheib, Jana
author_sort Fletcher, Mark D.
collection PubMed
description Users of hearing-assistive devices often struggle to locate and segregate sounds, which can make listening in schools, cafes, and busy workplaces extremely challenging. A recent study in unilaterally implanted CI users showed that sound-localisation was improved when the audio received by behind-the-ear devices was converted to haptic stimulation on each wrist. We built on this work, using a new signal-processing approach to improve localisation accuracy and increase generalisability to a wide range of stimuli. We aimed to: (1) improve haptic sound-localisation accuracy using a varied stimulus set and (2) assess whether accuracy improved with prolonged training. Thirty-two adults with normal touch perception were randomly assigned to an experimental or control group. The experimental group completed a 5-h training regime and the control group were not trained. Without training, haptic sound-localisation was substantially better than in previous work on haptic sound-localisation. It was also markedly better than sound-localisation by either unilaterally or bilaterally implanted CI users. After training, accuracy improved, becoming better than for sound-localisation by bilateral hearing-aid users. These findings suggest that a wrist-worn haptic device could be effective for improving spatial hearing for a range of hearing-impaired listeners.
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spelling pubmed-74478102020-08-26 Haptic sound-localisation for use in cochlear implant and hearing-aid users Fletcher, Mark D. Zgheib, Jana Sci Rep Article Users of hearing-assistive devices often struggle to locate and segregate sounds, which can make listening in schools, cafes, and busy workplaces extremely challenging. A recent study in unilaterally implanted CI users showed that sound-localisation was improved when the audio received by behind-the-ear devices was converted to haptic stimulation on each wrist. We built on this work, using a new signal-processing approach to improve localisation accuracy and increase generalisability to a wide range of stimuli. We aimed to: (1) improve haptic sound-localisation accuracy using a varied stimulus set and (2) assess whether accuracy improved with prolonged training. Thirty-two adults with normal touch perception were randomly assigned to an experimental or control group. The experimental group completed a 5-h training regime and the control group were not trained. Without training, haptic sound-localisation was substantially better than in previous work on haptic sound-localisation. It was also markedly better than sound-localisation by either unilaterally or bilaterally implanted CI users. After training, accuracy improved, becoming better than for sound-localisation by bilateral hearing-aid users. These findings suggest that a wrist-worn haptic device could be effective for improving spatial hearing for a range of hearing-impaired listeners. Nature Publishing Group UK 2020-08-25 /pmc/articles/PMC7447810/ /pubmed/32843659 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-70379-2 Text en © The Author(s) 2020 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
spellingShingle Article
Fletcher, Mark D.
Zgheib, Jana
Haptic sound-localisation for use in cochlear implant and hearing-aid users
title Haptic sound-localisation for use in cochlear implant and hearing-aid users
title_full Haptic sound-localisation for use in cochlear implant and hearing-aid users
title_fullStr Haptic sound-localisation for use in cochlear implant and hearing-aid users
title_full_unstemmed Haptic sound-localisation for use in cochlear implant and hearing-aid users
title_short Haptic sound-localisation for use in cochlear implant and hearing-aid users
title_sort haptic sound-localisation for use in cochlear implant and hearing-aid users
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7447810/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32843659
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-70379-2
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