Effects of noise, nonlinear processing, and linear filtering on perceived music quality

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the relative impact of different forms of hearing aid signal processing on quality ratings of music.

Design: Music quality was assessed using a rating scale for three types of music: orchestral classical music, jazz instrumental, and a female vocalist. The music stimuli were subjected to a wide range of simulated hearing aid processing conditions including, (1) noise and nonlinear processing, (2) linear filtering, and (3) combinations of noise, nonlinear, and linear filtering.

Study sample: Quality ratings were measured in a group of 19 listeners with normal hearing and a group of 15 listeners with sensorineural hearing impairment.

Results: Quality ratings in both groups were generally comparable, were reliable across test sessions, were impacted more by noise and nonlinear signal processing than by linear filtering, and were significantly affected by the genre of music.

Conclusions: The average quality ratings for music were reasonably well predicted by the hearing aid speech quality index (HASQI), but additional work is needed to optimize the index to the wide range of music genres and processing conditions included in this study.