On the use of linear prediction for Acoustic Feedback Cancellation in multi-band hearing aids

An efficient approach to mitigate the howling effect in hearing aids is via the use of Acoustic Feedback Cancellation (AFC). In this paper, the use of a Forward Linear Predictor (FLP) is investigated to improve the performance of an AFC system in multi-band hearing aids. The FLP is used to predict the speech input signal before eliminating it from the error signal of the AFC system. Computer simulations demonstrate that more accurate estimation of the acoustic feedback signal than the conventional AFC system can be obtained. In addition, maximum usable gain of hearing aids required by the users can be achieved when employing the proposed multi-band AFC system.