Abstract:
A low-cost, wearable digital master hearing aid has been designed for research purposes. It is comprised of a 20 million instructions per second (MIPS) digital signal processor (DSP) and a two-channel analog interface allowing a 75-dB signal-to-noise ratio and a 17-kHz bandwidth. The digital master hearing aid is powered by rechargeable batteries, giving an operating time between 12 and 20 h. It is housed in a 125x70x29-mm box equipped with three controls allowing the user to change up to ten parameters or switch between ten different programs. Also, a software implementation of an algorithm for detection and reduction of transient noise is presented.