Active compensation of nonlinear distortion in balanced armature receivers
Buye Xu, Tao Zhang · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 2016
Balanced armature receivers have been widely used in hearing aids due to their higher efficiency and more discrete size comparing to moving coil loudspeakers. For the application of hearing aids, it may require a very high output sound pressure level (up to 110 dB in an opened ear canal) and, yet, minimum nonlinear distortions. This requirement often results in a larger receiver in size, which is less comfortable for wearing. It is highly desired if the linear range of a smaller receiver can be broaden without increasing its physical size. Active compensation of nonlinearity for moving coil loudspeakers through signal processing means have been well studied. However, similar research for balanced armature receivers is rarely seen in the literature. Although the two types of transducers differ in many aspects, they share commonalities in the nonlinearity mechanism. The current study surveys the active compensation techniques developed for moving coil loudspeakers and explores the possibility of adopting them to reduce the nonlinearity of balanced armature receivers.