Articles techniques et présentations

In modern hearing aids, the performance of directional microphone systems is dependent on both the acoustics around thehearing aid and on the specific signal processing algorithms. The sound pressure at the microphone inlets depends on microphone location in the hearing-aid shell, the inlet shape, and on the placement of the hearing aid on the head of the user.

In the present work, the directional characteristics of a specific hearing aid is modeled in free field as well as placed on a head. The numerical results are also compared to measured data for validation. The acoustic equations are implemented using the general PDE formulation capabilities of Comsol. The model enables systematic studies of both the free-field directional characteristics and the true (real world) characteristics of the hearing aid on a head. The results may be applied in the early design phase of new hearing aids. Furthermore, it may be used for optimizing the performance of directional noise reduction algorithms for specific hearing-aid geometries. ---------------------------------- Keynote speaker's biography:

Mads J. Herring Jensen’s research activities concern the modeling of acoustic phenomena in and around hearing aid devices. In his work, he has implemented a thermoviscous acoustic model in COMSOL. In 2005, he received his Ph.D. from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) for modeling free-surface flows in microfluidic devices using COMSOL.

Mads J. Herring Jensen was one of the keynote speakers at the COMSOL User's Conference, fall 2009 in Milan.