HI-SIMv1.0--towards the virtual reality of hearing impairments.

The virtual reality of hearing impairments has obvious practical applications in areas such as audiology, speech therapy and hearing aid technology and serves as an informational tool for the family members of the hearing impaired. To simulate hearing impairment, a CD-ROM with filtered speech material accessible through a graphical user-interface was produced; the user-interface was created with standard multimedia tools. The CD-ROM, HI-SIMv1.0, intended as an interactive educational tool, offers a virtual experience of the effects of a selection of common types of hearing impairment. The options available in this simulation include grade of hearing impairment, audiometric configuration and the type and level of background noise. Word recognition scores can be computed for standard Finnish audiometric material.