Have you ever been in a loud restaurant, a nightclub or at a cocktail party and struggled to keep track of conversations? It is a far more common issue than you might expect.
For people designing private hearing aids, the so-called “cocktail party problem” is a particularly complex issue that highlights just how complex our hearing systems are, how our ability to follow conversations is affected by even mild hearing loss and what can be done to make it easier to stay in the loop.
This is not only important to ensure that people can live independently and maintain their social life, but also to help preserve long-term health; the Alzheimer’s Society notes that there are several mental well-being and physical health links between hearing loss and dementia.
However, a new study from Columbia University may have found a solution to this problem through a completely new approach to hearing aids that closely match how the brain parses and perceives sounds.
To understand how it works, it is important to understand why the cocktail party problem is difficult to fix in the first place.
What Is The Cocktail Party Problem?
The cocktail party problem is a neurological phenomenon where the brain can focus on a single conversation despite being in a noisy and crowded place.
Whilst it is not always easy and often requires conscious thought, most people have been to a loud event and managed to hold a conversation, but others struggle significantly with this.
It is a problem that can disproportionately affect hearing aid users, as their amplification effect causes all background noises to get louder, which can be overwhelming and make it more difficult to hold a conversation.
Whilst the name suggests a relatively limited issue, the cocktail party problem can affect people in any space with lots of people and lots of noise, from a busy high street to a crowded restaurant or a bustling restaurant.
Hearing aids have become exceptionally good at isolating traffic, weather sounds and other loud environmental noise that stand out compared to speech. However, the cocktail party problem is difficult to fix in the same way, as tuning out background conversations risks muting everyone.
Has The Cocktail Party Problem Been Fixed With New Hearing Aids?
A Columbia University study has suggested that the best way to fix the issue is to develop a hearing augmentation system that works with the brain’s natural sound-filtering functionality to focus on a specific conversation that they want to hear.
The study involved surgeons and patients undergoing surgery for epilepsy, who were fitted with a system that automatically adjusted the volumes of hearing aids based on how the brain would attempt to focus on specific sounds.
There have been decades of research into this phenomenon, but the first breakthrough for the Columbia University team led by Dr Nima Mesgarani was identifying which brain signals and activity patterns were linked to particular conversations.
Translating this theory into a real-time listening device took over a decade, but the results were so remarkable that some people in the study accused doctors of manually adjusting the audio levels themselves.
It is far from a viable product yet; the system took the form of an elaborate implant and would need to be developed into a wearable, minimally invasive form.
As well as this, whilst it worked in controlled conditions, tests in actual cocktail parties and busy aural environments need to be undertaken.
Regardless, it shows a potential glimpse at the future of hearing aids over the next decade.