26dga231 10.3205/26dga231 urn:nbn:de:0183-26dga2310 Meeting Abstract Babel Babel Tobias T

Deutsches Hörgeräte Institut GmbH, Lübeck, Deutschland

author Stiefenhofer Stiefenhofer Georg G

WS Audiology, Lynge, Dänemark

author Hettler Hettler Fabian F

Technische Hochschule Lübeck, Institut für Akustik, Lübeck, Deutschland

author Jürgens Jürgens Tim T

Technische Hochschule Lübeck, Institut für Akustik, Lübeck, Deutschland

author Husstedt Husstedt Hendrik H

Deutsches Hörgeräte Institut GmbH, Lübeck, Deutschland

author Denk Denk Florian F

Deutsches Hörgeräte Institut GmbH, Lübeck, Deutschland

author German Medical Science GMS Publishing House

Düsseldorf

610 20260302 engl This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Dieser Artikel ist ein Open-Access-Artikel und steht unter den Lizenzbedingungen der Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (Namensnennung). M0642 231 Deutsche Gesellschaft für Audiologie e. V. 28. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Audiologie Postersession Oldenburg 20260304 20260306 231 TextSpatial hearing plays an important role in daily communication and orientation, but it can be affected by using hearing aids . Besides non-linear signal processing, processing delay and acoustic coupling of hearing aids may disrupt the binaural and spectral cues essential for spatial hearing. To investigate their effect on localization performance, we implemented a previously proposed audiovisual search paradigm using a spherical 65-loudspeaker array. Participants were asked to determine the direction of a non-intelligible speech signal by identifying the visual cue displayed on the target speaker. First, we measured the time participants required to locate the target loudspeaker, both in quiet anechoic and in a simulated cafeteria background. During this experiment, we examined their head movements, recorded with a head tracker, to gain insight into search patterns and potential confusions. In addition, we assessed how the hearing aids affected direction-dependent sound transmission, measured with a Head and Torso Simulator. Twelve adults with mild-to-moderate hearing loss and twelve adults with normal hearing participated. Both groups were tested unaided and with experimental hearing aids that allowed systematic manipulation of acoustic coupling and processing delay. Results showed that hearing aids had a general negative effect on localization performance, and overall results were better in the quiet environment. In total, normal-hearing participants had better localization performance than hearing-impaired participants. Processing delay and acoustic coupling showed no significant effects across the tested parameter conditions. Denk F Ewert SD Kollmeier B On the limitations of sound localization with hearing devices 2019 J Acoust Soc Am 1732 Denk F, Ewert SD, Kollmeier B. On the limitations of sound localization with hearing devices. J Acoust Soc Am. 2019 Sep;146(3):1732. DOI: 10.1121/1.5126521 http://dx.doi.org/10.1121/1.5126521 Lladó P Hyvärinen P Pulkki V The impact of head-worn devices in an auditory-aided visual search task 2024 J Acoust Soc Am 2460-2469 Lladó P, Hyvärinen P, Pulkki V. The impact of head-worn devices in an auditory-aided visual search task. J Acoust Soc Am. 2024 Apr 1;155(4):2460-2469. DOI: 10.1121/10.0025542 http://dx.doi.org/10.1121/10.0025542 0 0 0 0