A Survey on Application Specific Processor Architectures for Digital Hearing Aids

authored by

Lukas Konrad Gerlach, Guillermo Payá Vayá, Holger Christoph Blume

Abstract

On the one hand, processors for hearing aids are highly specialized for audio processing, on the other hand they have to meet challenging hardware restrictions. This paper aims to provide an overview of the requirements, architectures, and implementations of these processors. Special attention is given to the increasingly common application-specific instruction-set processors (ASIPs). The main focus of this paper lies on hardware-related aspects such as the processor architecture, the interfaces, the application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) technology, and the operating conditions. The different hearing aid implementations are compared in terms of power consumption, silicon area, and computing performance for the algorithms used. Challenges for the design of future hearing aid processors are discussed based on current trends and developments.

Organisation(s)

Architectures and Systems Section

Type

Article

Journal

Journal of Signal Processing Systems

Volume

94

Pages

1293-1308

No. of pages

16

ISSN

1939-8018

Publication date

11.2022

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Control and Systems Engineering, Theoretical Computer Science, Signal Processing, Information Systems, Modelling and Simulation, Hardware and Architecture

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11265-021-01648-0 (Access: Open)