Influence of hearing aid processing on acoustic features associated with emotional speech: Acoustic analyses and perception by listeners with normal hearing

Hearing aid (HA) processing can affect acoustic features linked with emotions, potentially making them less distinguishable. This study investigated whether HA processing, with both standard and short processing delays, affects emotion prediction from a set of acoustic features associated with speech emotions and how well these predictions align with perceived emotions. The findings indicated that anger and sadness are the easiest emotions to predict from acoustic features, while happiness and fear are the most accurately perceived emotions by listeners with normal hearing. HA processing, regardless of delay, does not seem to impair the predictability of emotions from acoustic features or the perception of these emotions.