Hardware and software design of digital hearing aids based on fixed microphone array

Hearing loss, which affects more than 9 million people age 65 or over, is the third most common chronic condition in elderly individuals. The available analog technology has reached a limit of benefit, but still cannot cope with the intricacies of hearing. At present, the digital hearing aids, which use Digital-Signal-Processing (DSP) algorithms, are quickly taking the place of the traditional analog aids in the world market. Here, the authors present the hardware and real-time control software design of a new digital hearing aid based on a fixed microphone array. The hardware system is a DSP controlled real-time system. The real-time control software is designed in modules.