Improved practical variable step-size algorithm for adaptive feedback control in hearing aids

Abstract

© 2016 IEEE.Variable step-size (VSS) schemes are popular to use in acoustic echo cancellation (AEC) contexts. However, their effective implementation in adaptive feedback cancellation (AFC) for hearing aids is still challenging due to the correlation between microphone and loudspeaker signals. We propose an improved practical VSS algorithm (IPVSS) which uses a variable step-size with upper and lower limits to control the update equation of an adaptive filter. The proposed algorithm is implemented for feedback cancellation using the prediction error method. As a result, the overall system has a fast convergence rate, a high tracking rate and a low steady-state error. The performance of the proposed approach has been evaluated for both speech and music incoming signals. The simulation results show that the proposed approach outperforms a system which only utilizes either the lower or the upper fixed step-size used in the IPVSS.