Abstract
The paper presents research results involving the development of a digital binaural hearing aid using Texas Instrument's TMS320C3X digital signal processing (DSP) chip. The device is referred to as the Customized Universal Digital Listening System (CUDLS). Currently most commercially available hearing aids are analog devices which typically amplify speech in the frequency range 100 Hz to 4400 Hz with limited ability to shape the spectrum of the input signal. Some sophisticated 'programmable' aids have reached the market but none of these are truly digital. CUDLS implements a digital binaural equalizer that can shape the spectrum of the input signal to any desired shape in the frequency band d.c. to 9000 Hz. It also incorporates speech enhancement as an integral part of the hearing aid. The results presented in the paper deal primarily with this last aspect of the device.<>