Human hearing degrades with age, which leads to difficulties in viewers of different age groups enjoying television together as they require different audio volumes. To address this problem, Simon et al. proposed loudspeaker arrays that boost 10 dB at all frequencies in a narrow spatial zone, where the hearing-impaired listener is located. This paper presents a different approach using a personal assistive listening (PAL) system that aims to deliver a highly directional sound beam with the required gain amplification through a parametric array loudspeaker to match the hearing profile of a hearing-impaired listener, while delivering normal sound to the rest of the normal listeners using conventional electro-dynamic loudspeakers. This paper investigates the gain adjustment of two commercially available parametric loudspeakers over the frequency range for audiometry testing and relates the gain adjustments to the sound pressure level (SPL) at various positions away from the sound system.
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