Integrating Speech Enhancement with Subband Active Noise Control to Improve Communication in Hearing Protectors

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bernstein ER ; Brammer, A. J. ; Cherniack, Martin G. ; Peterson, D. R. ; Yu G
• Description:
  Many workers refuse to wear hearing protection devices (HPDs) because they would rather accept the health risks than sacrifice the ability to communicate with coworkers. Integrating active noise reduction (ANR) techniques with speech enhancement algorithms could solve these limitations of modern electronic HPDs. An adaptive delay feedforward subband structure has been implemented by forming parallel signal filtering and filter update paths for each frequency band. Subband ANR provides additional attenuation of environmental noise beyond that of passive HPDs within the lower frequencies associated with speech communication. The subband structure can also provide valuable information regarding the spectral content of the environmental noise that can be exploited to determine where additional power is needed in a communication channel to improve intelligibility. The system, initially developed in simulation, maintains a specified signal-to-noise ratio in each subband while simultaneously limiting the power added by the communication channel to below that associated with hearing damage. Speech Transmission Index models have been used to validate the improvements in speech intelligibility over typical passive and ANR communication headset designs. Preliminary results for a circumaural HPD constructed to implement the concept will be presented for comparison with the simulation. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Communication Hearing Noise Noise, Occupational Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Communication Research Communications Equipment Hearing Protection Noise Exposure Sound Attenuation Speech Transmission
• ISSN:
  0001-4966
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  Connecticut ; OSHA Region 1
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  130
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20058851
• Citation:
  J Acoust Soc Am 2011 Oct; 130(4):2469
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2012
• NORA Priority Area:
  Construction ; Manufacturing
• Performing Organization:
  University of Connecticut School of Medicine and Denistry, Farmington, Connecticut
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20060801
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
• End Date:
  20120731
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:4a596e07f4701fb22e99095f6251831799c61e47b7b46ab8ca0e7817430c704ec991458bec320c51102ecb9dcd23ca6bf3450249ed3c37fc1b14f6064749d85d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/223236/cdc_223236_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 89.15 KB ]