Uneva incorporates Genelec 8020D monitors for its research

The Acoustic-Auditory Assessment Unit (Uneva), pioneer in hearing neuroscience, has a soundproof room with variable reverb, equipped with twenty-four loudspeakers Genelec Model 8020D.

the University of Salamanca (USAL) has inaugurated the Acoustic-Auditory Assessment Unit (Uneva), located in the Institute of Neurosciences of Castilla y León, which is described as a "pioneering infrastructure for the Hearing Research" in this community, directed by the professor Enrique Lopez Poveda.

The main element of this new facility is a Soundproof room with Variable reverb, that allows you to simulate listening in various sound environments, For this purpose, a ring consisting of twenty-four loudspeakers has been installed Genelec 8020D, distributed in a circle of almost 3 meters in diameter.

Reliability, neutral sound and the ability to adapt its frequency response to the listening environment have made Genelec, brand that markets Audio-Technica, A benchmark in professional monitoring for study and research, as has been the case with Uneva.

The different lines of work of this new unit encompass various research: based on perceptual experiments, both with healthy people and in those who suffer from pathologies; in the field of theoretical neuroscience and the development of computational models, as well as various lines of applied research to improve hearing implants, hearing aids and other hearing aids, as well as methods of diagnosing hearing pathologies.

Computational models serve two purposes: Simulate how the healthy auditory system works, as well as modifying the models to know how the representation of sound in a listener's brain would be altered when there is a pathology.

As stated by Dr. López Poveda (in this attached image), "So we can simulate how sounds are encoded in the healthy ear and how they stop being encoded when there is damage. By having models that simulate the behavior of the healthy ear, we can use them as a basis for building hearing aids or hearing implants; I mean, You have an algorithm that reproduces the behavior of the healthy ear, And when it is altered, We use it to reproduce what's failing and rebuild.".

The research is partly funded by public entities, since Uneva is co-financed by the Junta de Castilla y León and the European Regional Development Fund through the Infrared program, as well as by private entities and multinational companies in the field of audiology.

This allows them to work directly with whoever designs the technology, This has led the laboratory to hold several patents for its own inventions, that they have sold to companies with which they collaborate and that fund their research to design, For example, The cochlear implants of the future.

In this sense, Highlights the work they have carried out for nine years with a company to develop a new method of sound processing for cochlear implants, which is expected to be able to be incorporated into a commercial device.

The heart of this evaluation unit is its variable acoustic room, which has been soundproofed and equipped with panels that can be opened or closed to regulate reverberation and absorption and also serves to assess people's hearing in realistic environments.

As observed, People who are hard of hearing and use hearing aids or cochlear implants have little trouble understanding speech when there is no reverberation, But when there is, they have a lot of difficulties.

"And that's why we have these speakers," López Poveda says. We have created a ring made up of twenty-four speakers, But we could put more. The idea is that the participant in an experiment sits in the chair, and whether or not you rest your chin on a special support".

Added to this is a microphone "because a typical test is to play a phrase, a word or a conversation in the presence of other phrases, words or noise coming from other speakers", The professor points out.

The installation makes it possible to evaluate the hearing of people who suffer from hearing pathologies in different conditions: On its own, with or without hearing aids, with or without implants, and is essential for evaluating the performance of the devices that are designed. Every time a new sound processing is developed for a hearing aid, A new hearing aid or implant, It is also essential to show that you contribute something.

In addition, This ring allows for sound localization experiments. "Now we have a ring, But we could build a sphere; The design of the ring also allows it to be flipped over and hung from the ceiling, For this purpose, we have provided hooks in various positions, I mean, It's very versatile", says Dr. López Poveda.

The laboratory also has other equipment for research, as a system for measuring cortical activity that allows encephalography reading records to be made while the person is performing the experiment, so that researchers get an idea of how the auditory brain of the listener is activated.

"An interesting thing is that, while we are doing the localization or intelligibility measurements, We have a pupillometry equipment to measure pupillary dilation," adds the professor. This is an objective measure, since the pupil dilates when it takes more effort to perform a task. For example, Understanding speech in noisy conditions dilates the pupil more than if you try to understand the same sentence in a quiet environment; It's a measure of how much effort you're putting in to understand the voiceover."

In addition to the equipment of the room for research, there is a virtual reality system that allows you to recreate an environment and investigate the interaction between visual and auditory information.

Small in size, The 8020D active two-way monitor has been designed by Genelec for monitoring in hard-to-hear environments, especially in those where space is lacking. This equipment incorporates a bass transducer of 105 Mm (4") and a treble unit of 19 Mm (3/4") Waveguide-mounted Directivity Controlled Waveguide (DCW) manufacturer's.

The frequency response in the free field is 66 Hz to 20 khz (± 2.5 Db), and the maximum peak SPL per pair with musical material is 105 dB a 1 meter. Both the bass and treble have amplifiers 50 W.

Other articles on Audio-Technica, Audio-Technica Iberia, Genelec, Institute of Neurosciences of Castilla y León, Acoustic-auditory evaluation unit-Uneva, University of Salamanca