Subjective evaluation of a spatialization feature for hearing aids by normal-hearing and hearing-impaired subjects

Remote microphone systems significantly improve speech intelligibly performance offered by hearing aids. The voice of the speaker(s) is captured close to the mouth by a microphone, then wirelessly sent to the hearing aids. However, the sound is rendered in a diotic way, which bypasses the spatial cues for localizing and identifying the speaker. The authors had formerly proposed a feature that localizes and spatializes the voice. The current study investigates the perception of that feature by normal-hearing and hearing-impaired subjects with and without remote microphone system experience. Comparing the diotic and binaural reproductions, subjects rated their preference over various audiovisual stimuli. The results show that experienced subjects mostly preferred the processing achieved by the feature, contrary to the other subjects.