SUBMITTED BY:-STEPHY RACHEL PHILIP

UNIT-3
EAC MEASUREMENT AND ACCESSORIES

Need to study EAC of ALDs:

Unlike hearing aids, which are classified as “medical devices” by FDA, there are limited
published product specifications provided for ALDs by the manufacturers. For devices that are
used in conjunction with a hearing aid, may be altered significantly by the use of induction loop
or DAI coupling (Gladstone, 1985; Hawkins & Schum, 1985; Hawkins & Van Tasell, 1982; Van
Tasell & Landlin, 1980) or the hearing aid may alter the response of the device. ALD coupling
information is rarely included on hearing aid specification sheets.

Several researchers (Hawkins & Van Tasell, 1982; Stach et.al., 1987; Turner & Holte, 1985;
Landlin, 1980) have attempted to evaluate the merits of various ALD technology using, modified
(ANSI S3.35, 1985) simulated insitu electro-acoustic analysis procedure, KEMAR measures,
speech discrimination tasks, user evaluation questionnaires and modified sound field threshold
procedures. But none of the procedures demonstrate what happens in the real ear or assist in
ALD selection.

(A) Probe-Tube Measurement

Electro-acoustic information is essential as a reference for comparison of devices. Since 1983,

the use of probe tube measurements has continued to increase in popularity amongst the
dispensing audiologists (Cranmer, 1987). This method is easy and objective to measure the SPL
in the ear canal as affected by head diffraction and shadow, pinna, ear canal resonance, earmold
plumbing and non-standard coupling. This measurement technique correlates well with the sound
field functional gain threshold upto 4000 Hz (Dillon & Murray, 1987; Mason & Popelka, 1986).
Probe-tube measures are less time consuming than sound field testing, less affected by room
noise and sound field calibration problems (Mason & Popelka, 1986). This is the only practical
method for obtaining aided SPL in the ear canal in very young children, difficult to test
population and persons with profound hearing impairment.

In recommending / dispensing ALDs, it is helpful to measure the performance of the device on

individual user. Specific devices & the choice of receiver style used to couple the device to the
ear or to the hearing aid; all have the potential to affect greatly the power & frequency response
of the speech signals reaching the ear. ALD assessment using probe mic measures can be made
directly or as recommended by Hawkins (1987), it can be measured as it interfaces with the
hearing aid (DAI, neck loop etc.). If the assistive device has a remote/ extension mic, placing this
mic at the monitor microphone of the probe mic system & using a relatively higher input (75 or
80 dB SPL). If the device has rigid/ internal mic, then it is probably best simply to conduct the
probe mic measurement with the ALD mic in the position in which it normally would be located
for communication.
Rationale
 Helps determining appropriate gain setting
 Determines if the ALD frequency response is appropriate
 Determine if the ALD output is appropriate and safe
 Allows for comparison of one ALD to another
 Allows for comparison of the effects of different ALD receivers

Protocol:
 Place ALD microphone in the calibrated or equalized sound field location. If possible use
the substitution method and equalize the sound field. Then locate the ALD microphone in
the vacant sound field at the calibrated location. If using the modified comparison
method, place the ALD microphone near the regulating microphone.
 Place the probe tube in the ear canal 25-30mm part the tragal notch.
 Fit the receiver of the ALD to the ear.
 Adjust the ALD volume control to the desired position.
 Assuming the ALD will be used with a microphone 6-8” from the speaker’s mouth, select
either speech weighted noise at 80 dB SPL or a swept frequency specific signal at 75 dB
SPL.
 Then conduct the measurement.

Hawkins (1987) for the personal FM system the in situ output of hearing aid is obtained for
60dB input. The hearing aid is left in place with the probe tube still in the ear canal.The FM
receiver is connected to HA via direct input, neck loop. The FM microphone is positioned next to
the compression microphone of the probe assembly. This positioning allows for a flat input of
the personal FM system is measured with 80dB SPL input signal.

For a self contained FM system, the FM input mode is selected, an input of 80dB is given and
measurement are made.

The drawback of using the procedure is that if sweep pure tone or warble tone is used and FM
utilizes a compression unit, the shape of frequency response in a LF may not be acuurarate .
Secondly there may be presence of acoustic feedback with a high gain hearing aid due to close
proximity of microphone to ear mould where sound is leaking out.(Hawkin, 1987)
ASHA (1994) describe the following probe microphone measurement with FM system.

1. FM microphone is placed in the calibrated spot in front of the sound field loudspeaker of
probe microphone system or next to the controlling microphone of the probe system.
(Hawkin.,1887)
2. The probe microphone tube is placed in the ear canal of the client and the FM receiver
only the FM signal. A real ear SSPL 90 curve or real ear saturation response (RESR) is
obtained care should be exercised in making this measurement so as to prevent excessive
output levels in the ear to avoid discomfort. The output control is adjusted until the
desired RESR is obtained, which could be either the RESR of personal aid or
independently generated target values.
3. Using an 80dB SPL input to the FM microphone, the FM volume control wheel and tone
control are adjusted until the desired output levels in the ear canal are obtained. If a
personal FM system is used the hearing aid VCW should be set the typical use position
and FM VCW should be adjusted for the desired output levels.

The probe microphone measurement can be used to evaluate an FM system at realistic input
levels and provide information on maximum out put.They are limited however, by the inability
of some system to provide information about harmonic distortion and require the cooperation of
individual being evaluated ( Lewis. Feigns,Karasek,Shelmachowicz,1991)

Comparison of ALD Receivers

The ALDs must be selected carefully to match the patient’s degree of hearing loss, loudness
discomfort levels & other amplification needs. It is also important to consider the type of
receiver that the patient will be using. The variability in gain, output & frequency response that
can result from the ALD receiver is as great, if not greater, than among ALDs themselves.

Brooks & Grimes (1989), again compared the differences in the REIR obtained when using a
single ALD with different receivers. The 3 receivers tested were light weight headphones
(walkman type), hard ear bud & soft ear bud. The measurements were obtained using a constant
VCW setting for the ALD at a 70 dB SPL input (mic of ALD was placed at the regulating mic of
the probe mic system)
The style of the receiver alters significantly the amount & configuration of the gain delivered to
the ear. While it is possible that the REIR obtained with receiver C (Headphone) would be
adequate for someone with mild high frequency impairment. Most ALD users would require
more LF gain than available using either this receiver or receiver B (hard bud).

This large variability among receivers illustrates the importance of evaluating individual
receivers as well as the ALDs itself, whenever these systems are fitted.

ELECTRO ACOUSTIC CHARACTERISTICS OF PERSONAL FM SYSTEMS

(Hawkins & Van Tasell; Journal of speech & hearing disorders, vol 47; 1982)

The most recent advancement of personal amplification configurations designed to incorporate

hearing aid into FM system are: a) The direct input hearing system b) The neck loop system.

Both the systems include a wearable microphone-transmitter-antenna unit that converts the
speaker’s voice to an electrical signal, uses it to frequency modulated high frequency carrier and
broadcasts the FM signal. The radio signal is received by the listener worn FM receiver, which
demodulates, amplifies and delivers to the ear.

 Frequency Response:

Most investigators agree that the frequency response of the hearing aid inductance loop system is
frequently different from that of the aid alone, operating on microphone input. But some report,
relatively greater gain in the frequencies below 1 KHz when the aid is operated via telecoil input
(Hodgson & Sung, 1972; Matkin & Olsen, 1970). In contrast, Barr Hamilton (1978) reported that
low frequency gain drops sharply when switched from microphone to telecoil input.

In their experiment Hawkins & Van Tasell (1982), measured the electro-acoustic characteristics
of various personal FM system configurations through the use of Zwislocki ear stimulator and
KEMAR. SSPL 90 and frequency response curve was obtained when hearing aid was coupled
with FM device through neck loop & DAI.

Their data indicated that, one can not assume that the same spectrum will be delivered to the
hearing aid user when the aid is switched from microphone to telecoil and coupled to an FM
teleloop system. The differences across hearing aids vary in magnitude, direction and can be
frequency selective. To conclude, we can say that, the concept of constant amplification with the
teleloop doesn’t appear to be valid.

While comparing different FM receivers, they found that, with same hearing aid, different
responses were observed when different FM receivers were used. Although there is no standard
procedure to check the compatibility, manufacturer’s data seems to be beneficial while
considering the FM device.

When FM system is coupled with the hearing aid through DAI, they observed no difference in
the response. So to say, FM system offers the same signal but at a better SNR.
Referring to the above experiment, we should consider the following points:
 The clinician should not assume that, a child wearing a neck loop FM system is receiving
the same spectrally shaped signal as when the personal hearing aid is being used in the
microphone mode.
 A single hearing aid may perform differently when coupled to different FM systems.
 Significant increase in the internal noise can be observed with both tele loop and DAI
systems when compared with microphone condition.
 The DAI system is not susceptible to the effect of distance, hearing aid orientation &
neck length. So, if we require duplicating the characteristics of a personal hearing aid in
combination with the SNR of an FM device, DAI can be chosen.

(B) Coupler Method

Best, Sinclair and Diggs (1984) as part of their field study study about the efficacy of group
amplification in schools for the hearing impaired did EAM of group FM amplification using 2CC
coupler. The non directional teacher microphone/ transmitter was placed at the center of the test
chamber within 5mm of the test box monitor microphone.the student receive/ amp was located
approximately 1 meter with its built in receiver coupled and recording microphone of the test
equipment.. The saturation output curve was obtained for 90dB SPL, sweep frequency
signal.HFA was computed for 1000, 16000 and 2500Hz.
Total harmonic distortion was measured at 500, 800, 1600 Hz using a 70dBinput. Finally the
internal noise output of the student unit was measured while the teacher unit was switched on,
but without an input signal directed from the text box loudspeaker.

Lewis et al (1991) suggested that the desired real ear SPL as a function of frequency would be
same for amplification from a hearing aid or an FM system.Therefore the 2CC coupler values
measured with a 75dB SPL input for the FM system.Coupler measures evaluate a FM system at
realistic input levels and provide measures of maximum
output and harmonic distortion ( Lewis,1991)

Seewald and Moodie (1992 proposed the following

procedure for 2cm coupler for FM system evaluate and
selection

1. Determine the user personal HA are functioning

properly and have been set appropriately.
2. Measure critical electro acoustic characteristics on
the personal hearing aid (a) SSPL 90, (b) output of
the HA with a 65db SPL input at user volume
control wheel(VCW) position and control setting.
The measure of maximum output and output for
typical input will serve as target for adjustment of the FM system.
 3. Place the microphone of the FM system in a calibrated test position. Coupled the external
receiver of the FM system to the 2cm coupler appropriately. Obtain SSPL 90 curve and
adjust the maximum output control on the FM system until the SSPL 90 curve and adjust
the maximum output control on the FM system until the SSPL 90 curve most closely
matches that obtained with the HA alone instep (2) above (note that output being is
matched not the gain).The gain of the Fm system will be less than that of the HA,
because of the higher input levels.
4. Foe the personal FM system, leave the HA at CVW at user setting and adjust only the FM
system CVW until the closest match is obtained. When the closest match has been
achieved harmonic distortion measurement should be obtained.
5. If a self contained Fm is being used, the environmental microphone portion of the Fm
system should be assessed using the same input levels.

ASHA (in 1999 - 2000) : Recommendation for 2cc coupler assessment

1. Attach the HA, or the receiver/amplifier of a self contained FM system, to the 2cc
coupler and place in the test box with the microphone in the calibration position.
2. Using swept tone or a complex noise, measure output as a function of frequency
following standard procedure . The results should include
a) An estimation of the output as a function of frequency.
b) An estimation of full on gain as a function of frequency at user setting for
conversational input ( 65dB SPL)
c) If aid incorporates full dynamic range compression-estimates of user gain as a
function of frequency for low (50dB SPL), typical (65dB SPL) and ( 80dB SPL) input
levels.
d) Estimates of distortion as a function of frequency under normal conditions of use.
3. Remove the HA, still attached to the coupler, from the test box
a) If this is personal FM system, couple the FM receiver to the personal HA. Note that
Direct Audio Input is being used, the sensitivity of the HA microphone may change,
therefore the system should be tested with input to the hearing microphone before
assessing FM input.
b) If neck loop coupling is being used, make sure that the configuration of the loop, and
the position and orientation of the aid in relation to the loop ,represent real condition
of use. The ideal way to meet this requirement is to place them on the actual user. An
alternative is to use another person or a manikin. With all three position, it may be
necessary to supports the weight of the coupler as it hangs in front of the ear.
4. Place the FM microphone in the text box in the calibration position.
a) If possible, turn off the local ( environmental or hearing aid) microphone. If it is not
possible, the measurement must be done in quite environment such as the audiometric
test booth. Note that, when testing a self contained FM system in which the
environmental microphone can be turn off, the receiver / amplifier can remain in the
test box.
5. Set all volume controls to their normal user positions.
 6. Repeat the out put measurement to obtain
a) An estimate of full on gain as a function of frequency, for a high input levels (80dB
SPL)
b) An input versus output curve to obtain an estimate of compression threshold in the
FM transmitter.

Setup for testing an FM system with

Setup for testing an FM system with
non-directional lapel microphone directional or large microphone
 Attaching 2cc coupler to the system by means of different couplers

Perception via sense of Touch

(A) Temporal Domain

 Frequency
Skin id differently sensitivity to different frequencies. When large contactor is used for
vibrating the skin (displacement) threshold response is independent of the frequency at low
frequencies (25 and 40Hz), but as the frequencies is increased the threshold improves at rate
about 12dB/ octave until maximal sensitivity is reached in the range 200-300Hz. At higher
frequencies, up to about 1000Hz sensitivity decreases rapidly.
Thus sensitivity for the large contactor is composed of twp limbs; a flat potion in the low
frequencies where differences in frequencies have no effect on the detectibity of the signal
and U shaped limb at higher frequencies.
In contrast the where small contacter is used the threshold response is independent of
frequencies.

 Frequency discrimination

Mowbray and Gebhard ( 1967) found that discrimination was fairly good at low frequencies
but deteriorate rapidly as frequency increased.
The results of the Rothenberg et al., 1977 show that pulse produce better discrimination than
do sine waves and that the difference limen for constant frequencies stimuli is better at low
than at high frequencies, which is consistent with the findings of the Goff, 1967.
Discrimination at higher frequency was improved by using warble tone, when subject were
asked to detect the frequency fluctuation at about centre frequency.
There is a hypothesis is that perceived vibrotactile frequency and auditory pitch and that
intonation pattern with moderate to stress patterns could be discrimination on the skin by
hearing and deaf person alike.
  Stimulus duration
It is clear that when the area of contractor is large (2.9cm ), a short signal is more difficult to
detect than a long signal and the improvement in detectibly is a very orderly function of
signal duration.
It is note worthy that the rate of decline in thresholds of 3dB per doubling of duration up to
approximately 200ms indicate that tactile system is capable of temporally integrating
stimulus energy over a limited period of time.

 Gap detection
It is generally measures the ability of a person to detect a silent gap between two auditory
stimuli.
Gescheider measure the minimum detectable separation between a pair of tactile click stimuli
as a function of click intensity and found that gap detection improves as a function the time
interval separating the clicks and intensity of the clicks.
GDT is found to be 10ms but may be about 5ms for the highly damped sound.
The gap become easier to detect as the duration increases , and gap between sinusoid burst
are difficult to perceive than the burst of noises.

 Amplitude Modulation.
It is found that the perception of the amplitude modulation using the sinusoid is superior to that
with wide or NBN. Maximum sensitivity occurred at modulation frequencies of 20-40 Hz.

 Temporal order
It is the ability to count successive multiple stimuli on the skin. In this the performance is
inferior to the auditory but superior than visual when the rate of presentation is 2-8 pulse per
second.
The threshold of the temporal order judgment is found to be 20 msec between onset of the
two brief stimuli. However this threshold tends to increase when the no of stimuli increases
beyond two. When no of stimuli are about 5 or 6 the threshold increases up to 500msec.
It is clear that communication system that requires absolute identification of the temporal
order of sequentially presented stimuli to different body site would requires very slow rate of
presentation if it is effectively to be used
Temporal order is also affected by cognitive factor such as short term memory, attention, and
pattern recognition.

(B) Spatial Domain

 Contactor site
When very small contactor site are used threshold response is independent of frequency.
At higher frequency (80-320Hz) sensitivity increases directly with the size of the vibrating
surface , at the rate approximately 3dB per doubling of the contactor area.
 More specifically doubling of this corresponds exactly to a constant amount of energy
integrated over space needed for detecting stimuli.However at low frequency (40Hz and
below ) the size of the contactor has no effect on the detection threshold :there is no spatial
summation .

 Body site

The study of the different parts of the body is important because of difference in the threshold
sensitivity, suprathrshold function , the potential interference or confusion of the signal delivered
to the different site and the cosmetic consideration of the wearing the device.
The figure shows that threshold of detectibly at three body sites : the velar forearm, the middle
fingertip, and the then ear eminence .
It is important to consider not only the absolute sensitivity of skin at a particular despite but also
the rate at which the subjective intensity of the signal grows with amplitude of vibration.
The subjective intensity vibration grows most rapidly on the velar forearm and least on the finger
pad .The steepness of these curves is inversely related to the no. of the sensory receptors located
in the skin at the various sites.

(C) Intensity effects

 Subjective magnitude

Because the stimuli will be presented at skin at suprathreshold levels, the developer of the
tactile aid will have to consider the not only the absolute sensitivity to different frequencies
of vibration , but also the difference in subjective intensity produced by equal amplitude
suprathrehold vibration at different frequencies.Such an effect in hearing is known as equal
loudness contour while in tactile sensation it is kwon as curves or contours of equal sensation
magnitude.
The curve shows that physical intensity that a tone must have at any given frequency in order
to sound as loud as a specified tone at a different frequency.
This information is important when it is important when it is necessary to balance or
emphasize the perceived intensities of stimuli at different frequency and it is essential for the
design of the telephones and other devices used for vocal communication.
This curve determine how intense a vibration must be to equal the subjective intensity of a
vibration at any other frequencies.So at suprathresold levels, the higher frequencies requires
a lower level of displacement to equal the subjective magnitude of the low frequency signal.
One important difference of these curve from the equal loudness contour is that this curves
did not flatten at suprathreshold level (almost equal),while hearing curves get flattened.

 Intensity discrimination

As compare to the dynamic range of hearing which is about 120dB of tactile sensation is
limited’s is 55dB, and sounds above this values leads to the unpleasant sensation or painful.
The smallest detectable intensity difference in tactile stimulation 0.4dB as reported by Knudson
in 1928 and the highest value is about 2.3dB by Sherrick in 1950.
The best intensity discrimination can be made when an intensity increment was imposed upon a
continuous background “pedestral” of vibration rather than on the pedestrals of brief duration.
There is no difference in the intensity discrimination between the NBN, white noise, sinusoid
which shows that ability to detect amplitude difference on the skin is independent of the power
spectrum and frequency of the stimulus.
The values of the relatively difference threshold , expressed in decibel was found to be decreases
slightly as the intensity level increases , indicating a near miss to weber’s law.

Effect of Multiple stimulation.

 Masking
It is the reduction of ability to detect a target stimuli in presence of another stimuli.eg.when
300Hz sinusoid the effect was greatest: masking increases as linear function of intensity of the
masker.
When the masker is kept at high frequency and signal at low frequency there is a plateau in the
function indicating a cessation in the masking increment. With certain intensity level limits the
presence of high frequency does not affect the detection of the low frequencies and vice versa.
Like masking the other phenomenon like suppression, summation and enhancement of stimuli
found in tactile stimulation.

 Adaptation
The growth of sensation magnitude during approximately the first one second of vibrotactile
stimulation is attributed to temporal summation: subsequent decrement in the sensory magnitude
and in the detection threshold following more prolongation stimulus is attributed to sensory
adaptation.
The absolute threshold of the detection of a test stimuli increases following intense stimulation of
the test site,with recovery over time.
Recovery time ranges from few seconds to the several minute depending upon duration and
intensity of exposure.
The reason could be combination of the mechanical and neural changes (Gescheider & Wright)
But it could be also largely central process ( Rowe & Tarvin)

SUBJECT VARIABLES

1. Gender
No difference in the performance of the tactile devices in between man and women
(Verrillo,1977).

2. Age
Studies shown that with age a progressive loss at high frequency with little or no loss at low
frequencies.(Frisina and Gescheider, 1977) which highlights that when ever higher frequencies
are used for tactile communication age of the client must taken into consideration.
The loss is may be due to age related changes in the structure and no (decrease) in the pacinian
corpuscles.
 3. Handedness
No difference between right, left and ambidextrous subjects. However when the task evolved the
enhancement or suppression effect of the contralatral stimuli , only ambidextrous subjects appear
to be independent of the sensory input to the other hand where as pronounced effects observed in
right/left handed persons.

Tactile Aid

A wearable tactile aid looks like the body worn hearing aid but delivers vibrotactile or electro
tactile signals to the users rather than auditory information. The device may be single channel or
multichannel and if latter uses either a wideband or feature extraction processing strategies.

Description of the tactile aids

Microphone
It may be located within the speech processer or may be connected to it by a cord. either way it
must be worn outside the clothing . The microphone transducers speech information into
electrical stimulus that are delivered to the speech processer .where they are coded to be
maximally useful to the clients tactile receptors.

Speech processer
With a single channel system, such as the Minifonator the entire electrical signal may be
compressed and/or transposed, then transmitted to one vibrator or electrode.
As tactile aids cannot differentiates between frequencies above 500 Hz, therefore in order to
present HF information, HF is sometimes electronically transposed to a lower frequency range.
So this helps only in awareness of HF sound but not for complex frequency analysis. While
multichannel system involves several vibrator placed on different location. Two processing
option are analogous to the cochlear implant.
The speech feature processing strategies extract the fundamental frequency and frequencies that
provide the vowel and consonant information.
The the type and location of tactile aid is discussed below. And After using the device the person
need extensive training to decode the vibration or electro-tactile patterns

Classification of tactile hearing aids

1. No. of channels (no. of transducer) : single channel, double or multi channel

2. Modality of stimulation ( vibrotactile or electrotactile )
3. Location of the transducer on the body surface
4. Type of processing strategies

Single channel tactile hearing aid

It is very simple in design. Due to which it facilitates the commercial introduction of wearable
version. Simplest approach found in Fonator and Minifonater (siemsens hearing intstrument)
which detect the incoming sound present a band limited version of the input on the transducer,
using the transducer as the loudspeaker.
Relatively little signal processing is done by the device and much of the quality of the original
input is maintained; infect holding the transducer of the one of the device next to the ear results
in percept akin to that herared through a low fidelity loudspeaker.
It help in conveying the syllable number and stress pattern ( Crrney and Beachler,
1986). Weisenberger (1989a) reported that it perform well in the sound detection, identification
of the environmental sounds, syllables rhythm and stress. As the task were depend upon the
detection of the amplitude envelope information which is possible with this aid, but the amount
of extraction of the fine structure of speech is limited due to poor frequency resolution.
Eg. Minifonator, Minivib3 (AB Special instrument) can able to extract the envelope
of the incoming signal and uses it to modulate the amplitude of of a fixed frequency vibrator
carries, thus presenting only envelop information to the wearer. Others were also giving same
strategies are Summit TAM, Audiological Engineering Tactaid I )
However neither of the aid effective in providing the fine structure information necessary for the
phoneme identification but it can helpful to give additional benefit along with the addition
hearing aid.
Improvement provided single channel device in connected speech is are likely due to
results from cues from cues segmental and phrasing which are present in the amplitude envelop.

 TACTAID I

The first tactile aid small and practical enough to be useful in most daily situations. TACTAID I
provided rhythmic and temporal (timing) information about sounds and was very useful for
environmental sound awareness. It incorporated the company’s patented Automatic Noise
Suppression system that has been employed in all TACTAID models. TACTAID I continues to
be used successfully worldwide.

Two channel tactile aids.

It is possible localization of the sound source with used of tactile aid. Richardson argued that
tactile sound localization must depend solely depend upon intensity difference, since the tactile
system is not responsible to small phase difference.
In Richardson’s device square wave pulse were delivered to the tip of the index finger of both
hands, and input microphone were placed at both ears. When subjects were permitted to move
their head in order to localize the sound, performance with the tactile device were comparable to
auditory localization of the same sound.
The best localization is found when the stimulus is located at an azimuth of 60 degree, a location
that generators intensity difference of 10dB between the two tactile stimulators. At other angle
the intensity difference as small as 2dB is observed.
Weisenberger et al (1987) constructed a device in which he found that the best localization of
the sound source is achieved for frequencies at 2kHz because at this frequency it produces
maximum intensity difference as compare to other frequencies.
In an attempt to convey the spectral features of the speech for understanding complex stimuli the
poor frequency resolution must be noticed. So one reasonable approach to design the tactile
device is to transform the input frequency into dimension along which the tactile device shows
good frequency resolution.
The simplex way is to divide input spectrum into two (von Bekesy, 1959), directing the output of
the low frequency half to one transducer and the high frequency half to the transducer in a
different location on the skin surface.
Egg...KS3/2 (Telex) and tacaid II

 Tactide II

It has two vibrotactile transducer which can be worn side by side on wrist. Each produce a fixed
frequency stimulus at 375Hz (250Hz in alternative version),One channel being amplitude
modulated by the amplitude envelope of the input signal in the range of 100Hz to 1.8kHz and the
other by the amplitude envelope of input signal in the range 1.5-10kHz.

This device incorporate with noise suppression circuitry : tactile output is produced only in
response to transient signal such as speech ; steady input signal were interpreted as general
background noise and produce no output.
The Kanievski aid now marketed as the Telex KS 3/2 is two channel vibrotactile device with an
output transducer on the wrist.
Although the inclusion of second challenge improves the amount of spectral information but
sometimes the second channel may interfere with overall envelope cues provided by the single
channel.
A comparison study on the performance of the Minivib3 ( single channel ) and Tactaid II ( two
channel) shows that addition of second channel does not impair the identification of tasks depend
on envelope cues (single channel) .
But the task which improves significantly is‘s-detection’ task in which the subjects were asked to
determine which of the pair of words differing only in the inclusion of an initial or final /s/ had
been presented.
(Geers and Moog, 1991 have noted that improvement in isolated aspect of speech perception and
production for children’s wearing Tactaid II.

Multiple channel

It employee multiple transducer to convey spectral information about acoustic information. Such
device can be used as a no. of coding strategies in selecting the feature of the stimulus to be
communicated.
In vocader the envelop output from a bank of bandpass filter are used to drive a set of fixed
frequency tactile transducer

Tactile Aid 7 & LTD

Audiological Engineering Corp, Somerville, Mass, offers Tactaid 7 and LTD (Little Tactile
Device). Tactaid 7 is a tactile aid which presents coded sound information via seven vibrators.
The coded vibratory patterns provide information on a range of speech characteristics, including:
voice and voiceless sounds, inflection, intensity, temporal cues, and the first two formats that
assist in vowel recognition. LTD is a redesigned, smaller version of the company’s Tactilator.
The unit, which runs on four AAA batteries, has high and low frequency vibration, and a wide-
band vibrator for spectral and temporal cues, for superior speechreading facility.

Number of channel
In a study between performance of Tactaid V ( five channel) and Queen’s vocoder ( 16 channel)
findings suggests that in very simple task such as minimal phoneme identification both
performed same, however larger closed test were employed in conjunction with the lipreading
the queens vocoder is superior.
Another study between the 16 channel and 8 channel versions of queen’s suggest that for some
subject performance is same in both type.
Overall the results suggests that substantial amount of speech information are conveyed by
multichannel devices, even by those employing fewer channels.

Scott SRA-10
It is a vibrotactile device derive from the earlier device which has combination of both electro
tactile and vibrotactile output. It codes low frequency information’s an amplitude and frequency
modulated sine waves. Mid and high frequency are coded as amplitude modulated random noise
and are intended to be distinguished by the quality of quality of sensation.
In addition various frequency region of the input signal are spatially encoded along a linear array
of three vibrators- HF at centre, mid frequency on the two outer vibrators and LF on all three
Device with multi-simulator arrays
The Port pitch has a linear array of 16 vibrotactile transducer which are arranged along the users
forearm at 6mm interval.
Voice pitch is coded as stimulus position (in terms of which transducer is activated) and as
stimulus frequency

Tactilator

Tactilator was introduced in 1998, based on a method of tactually supplementing speechreading,

called Tactiling. Invented by a Gustaf Söderlund, a deafened Swedish man who lost his hearing
at the age of eight.

Tactiling consists of placing a hand on a speaker’s shoulder with the thumb placed loosely
against the side of the neck to sense vibrations; it produces exceptional speech cues.

After studying the information presented through this method, Mr. Franklin designed the
Tactilator to present the same cues available through Tactiling without requiring physical contact
between the speaker and the receiver.

This was done through a combination of the new processing scheme and new efficient wide-
band vibrators. As in the earlier two-channel Tactaid II+, the incoming sound signal is divided
into a high-frequency channel and a low-frequency channel. However, here the similarity ends.
The Tactilator sends both spectral and temporal voicing cues to the low channel.

Each of the two vibrators covers a different part of the sound spectrum. Our research and
anecdotal data suggest that the real speech signal for the low frequencies (up to 1000 Hz), an
absence of signals from the region 1000 Hz to approximately 4000 Hz, and then encoded signals
from the region above 4000 Hz enable the user to obtain excellent unambiguous temporal and
voicing information, and better high frequency consonant distinctions.

The latest device, LTD, Little Tactile Device is a state-of-the-art instrument that improves the
style and convenience of the Tactilator by significantly:-

1-decreasing the size of the electronics package,

2 - replacing the custom NiCad battery packs with standard AAA batteries, and
3- increasing efficiency to provide long battery life.

Like the Tactilator, it converts sound information into patterns of vibrations that help most users
to improve their understanding of the world of sound.

Coding strategies.

The aspect of the acoustic environment to be conveyed by tactile devices depend upon the type
of coding straterigies used. Most of the aid uses the channel vocoder earlier.
Boothrroyed and colleagues have investigated one tactile devices which display voice
fundamental frequency ( f0) in a single-channel or multichannel design. This pitch display have
shown benefit in the single item task and in connected speech.

A feature extraction strategies has been incorporated in recent devices : one of them is Tickle-
Talker. The location of the electrode receiving stimulation indicates the values of the second
formant (F2) of the speech sound, while the pulse rate is used to code F0.
A vibrotactile formant extraction aid also been developed, the Tactaid VII which uses seven
vibrator in a flexible arry that can be worn on any of a number of body sites. This device display
F2 as location on the stimulator array.

Another straggles is principal component analysis deigned to reduce the redundancy in most of
the speech sounds. PCA uses acrose frequency correlation in spectral energy waveform to
produce a small set of independent parameter, which contains the information about overall
spectral shape of the waveform, rather than only its spectral peaks.
Another device developed by Weisenberger ; craig and Abbot (1991) consist of 30 channel, two
dimensional arry worn on the foreman and display the value of the first two principal component
of the input wave form in an x,y format. The algorithm used was deigned to maximize the
separabilites of vowel, and indeed this device yielded excellent identification performance for
stimuli differing in medial vowel. Consonant features of manner and voicing were also
transmitted effectively by the device .
Modality of Stimulation
Two mode of stimulation can be possible : electrotactile and vibrotactile .

Electrical stimulation
The important factor that affect the generation of the action potential in the underlying nerve
stimulation at the skin are first geometrical arrangement of the electrode with respect to the nerve
and secondly the electrical properties of the tissue surrounding the nerve.
The use of too small an electrode to improve localization leads to problem of high impedance
and low stimulation efficiency. In addition to the stimulation can only occur when the potential
gradient between the nodes of ranvier is large enough to imitate an action potential .Current
values of 10mA are typically required.
The duration of the stimulus is important . Pulses of about 100microsecond width are the most
efficient for electrical stimulation. An ideal site is considered to be where the nerve axon comes
closer to the skin surface and it is possible to stimulate only efferent nerves so as to avoid muscle
contraction.
The results of several experiment on the no. of discrimination level led to an estimate of 8 bits/s
for the information capacity of an electrotactile channel. Although the speech could be in theory
be transmitted by phonemes at about 50 bits/ s 1 practical system requires much higher rates.
Multichannel system will have increased information capacity but the potential for speech
transmitted is limited.
The impendence of the skin decrease with frequency and for 100microsecond pulse has a
minimum values of about 2kohm. Constant current stimulation is preferred as it is essential to
avoid direct current stimulation and, to avoid electrochemical changes, pulse with no significant
low frequency component are desirable.
Calculation of power requirement shows that it is possible to run a wearable aid for many days
on a single miniature battery. Devices that have been tried to date have used single channel
stimulation on the wrist and in the ear canal as well as multichannel stimulation on the abdomen,
forearm, and fingers.
The major problem in electro tactile stimulation as follows.
Limited dynamic range of the tactile system typically not exceeding 10dB, so to provide
information about sound information about sound intensity over range greater than 10dB it is
necessary to transform the input in some way possible by compressing the amplitude range of the
acoustic stimuli or by coding the input intensity in some other forms such as pulse rate or pulse
width.
The Multipoint electro tactile stimulator array (MESA) employs two dimensional abdomen arry
coding intensity vertically and frequency horizontally.
The first wearable and commercially marked multichannel tactile aid was an electro tactile
devices the Tacticon TC-1600 have a linear array of electrical stimulation worn on the abdomen.
Input intensity was mapped using pulse rate changes.
The Tickle-Talker (Cowan et al, 1988, 1990) an eight channel electro tactile which stimulates the
digital nerves on the finger of one hand.

Reference :
1. Ian R. Summers – Tactile aid for hearing Impaired
2. Stanley A. Gelfand- Essessntial of Audiology.
3. Hawkins & Van Tasell; Electroacoustic charaterstic of personal FM systems Journal of speech & hearing disorders,
vol 47; 1982
4. Manikin A. Hersh and Michel A . Johnson –Assistive Technology for the hearing impaired,Deaf and Deaf-blind.