An Individualized Super-Gaussian Single Microphone Speech Enhancement for Hearing Aid Users With Smartphone as an Assistive Device

Chandan Reddy

Abstract

In this letter, we derive a new super-Gaussian joint maximum a posteriori (SGJMAP) based single microphone speech enhancement gain function. The developed speech enhancement method is implemented on a smartphone, and this arrangement functions as an assistive device to hearing aids. We introduce a tradeoff parameter in the derived gain function that allows the smartphone user to customize their listening preference, by controlling the amount of noise suppression and speech distortion in real-time based on their level of hearing comfort perceived in noisy real-world acoustic environment. Objective quality and intelligibility measures show the effectiveness of the proposed method in comparison to benchmark techniques considered in this letter. Subjective results reflect the usefulness of the developed speech enhancement application in real-world noisy conditions at signal to noise ratio levels of -5, 0, and 5 dB.