Implementation of hearing aid signal processing algorithms on the TI DHP-100 platform

While the traditional deployment platform for digital hearing aids has been custom ICs, recent advances in the power efficiency of digital signal processors (DSPs) have generated interest in their use. A primary motivation for this interest is the increased algorithmic flexibility that a DSP provides over a fixed-function IC. The C54xx family of DSPs from Texas Instruments is among the leaders in power efficiency, and TI provides a development platform (the DHP-100) aimed at exploring the hearing aid design space. Here, we report on our experience porting hearing aid signal processing algorithms (J.L. Goldstein, August 2001) to the DHP-100 and report on the resulting performance, both for real-time response and power consumption.