Real-world benefit from directional microphone hearing aids.

This article summarizes data from a 3-year, double-blinded study of directional hearing aid benefit. Ninety-four subjects in three hearing loss groups, all previous users of omnidirectional output-compression hearing aids, completed all aspects of the study. Participants were fit with new hearing aids for 1 month in a directional mode and 1 month in an omnidirectional mode. Following 1 month of use, subjects completed a number of objective and subjective measures of hearing aid outcome. Objective and subjective data were analyzed across hearing aid and hearing loss conditions. Subjects in all hearing loss groups exhibited better performance in the directional conditions for objective speech-in-noise measures; however, subjective data did not indicate a clear advantage for directional amplification. Results and clinical implications are discussed.

[1]  C A Sammeth,et al.  Field trial evaluations of a switched directional/omnidirectional in-the-ear hearing instrument. , 1999, Journal of the American Academy of Audiology.

[2]  J Kiessling,et al.  Multi-microphone technology for severe-to-profound hearing loss , 2001, Scandinavian audiology. Supplementum.

[3]  R. Plomp.  Noise, Amplification, and Compression: Considerations of Three Main Issues in Hearing Aid Design , 1994, Ear and hearing.

[4]  W Soede,et al.  Assessment of a directional microphone array for hearing-impaired listeners. , 1993, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[5]  R C Seewald,et al.  Speech recognition with in-the-ear and behind-the-ear dual-microphone hearing instruments. , 2000, Journal of the American Academy of Audiology.

[6]  R M Cox,et al.  Comparison of two questionnaires for patient-assessed hearing aid benefit. , 1991, Journal of the American Academy of Audiology.

[7]  R M Cox,et al.  Use of the Connected Speech Test (CST) with hearing-impaired listeners. , 1988, Ear and hearing.

[8]  Todd A Ricketts,et al.  Distance and Reverberation Effects on Directional Benefit , 2003, Ear and hearing.

[9]  Gerald A. Studebaker,et al.  Acoustical Factors Affecting Hearing Aid Performance , 1992 .

[10]  R M Cox,et al.  Relationship between two measures of aided binaural advantage. , 1984, The Journal of speech and hearing disorders.

[11]  David Preves,et al.  Approaches to Noise Reduction in Analog, Digital, and Hybrid Hearing Aids , 1990 .

[12]  C. Mulrow,et al.  Quality-of-life changes and hearing impairment. A randomized trial. , 1990, Annals of internal medicine.

[13]  R M Cox,et al.  Measuring Satisfaction with Amplification in Daily Life: the SADL scale. , 1999, Ear and hearing.

[14]  R Plomp,et al.  Auditory handicap of hearing impairment and the limited benefit of hearing aids. , 1978, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[15]  R M Cox,et al.  Development of the Profile of Hearing Aid Performance (PHAP). , 1990, Journal of speech and hearing research.

[16]  H. Birk Nielsen.  A Comparison Between Hearing Aids with Directional Microphone and Hearing Aids with Conventional Microphone , 1973 .

[17]  H Gustav Mueller,et al.  Evaluation of a second-order directional microphone hearing aid: II. Self-report outcomes. , 2006, Journal of the American Academy of Audiology.

[18]  F H Bess,et al.  A comparison of the benefit provided by well-fit linear hearing aids and instruments with automatic reductions of low-frequency gain. , 1997, Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR.

[19]  R K Surr,et al.  Comparison of benefits provided by different hearing aid technologies. , 2000, Journal of the American Academy of Audiology.

[20]  P Lurquin,et al.  Intelligibility in noise using multimicrophone hearing aids. , 1996, Acta oto-rhino-laryngologica Belgica.

[21]  Ruth A Bentler,et al.  Hearing-in-Noise: comparison of listeners with normal and (aided) impaired hearing. , 2004, Journal of the American Academy of Audiology.

[22]  T Ricketts,et al.  Directivity Quantification in Hearing Aids: Fitting and Measurement Effects , 2000, Ear and hearing.

[23]  C. Mulrow,et al.  Quality-of-Life Changes and Hearing Impairment , 1990 .

[24]  T Ricketts,et al.  Impact of Noise Source Configuration on Directional Hearing Aid Benefit and Performance , 2000, Ear and hearing.

[25]  D B Hawkins,et al.  Signal-to-noise ratio advantage of binaural hearing aids and directional microphones under different levels of reverberation. , 1984, The Journal of speech and hearing disorders.

[26]  Todd A Ricketts,et al.  Directional hearing aid benefit in listeners with severe hearing loss , 2006, International journal of audiology.

[27]  Paula P. Henry,et al.  Full Time Directional versus User Selectable Microphone Modes in Hearing Aids , 2003, Ear and hearing.

[28]  Mary T Cord,et al.  Influence of environmental factors on hearing aid microphone preference. , 2002, Journal of the American Academy of Audiology.

[29]  Robyn M. Cox,et al.  Development of the Connected Speech Test (CST) , 1987, Ear and hearing.

[30]  S. Kochkin.  MarkeTrak V: “Why my hearing aids are in the drawer” The consumers' perspective , 2000 .

[31]  M Valente,et al.  Recognition of speech in noise with hearing aids using dual microphones. , 1995, Journal of the American Academy of Audiology.

[32]  Robyn M. Cox,et al.  The Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit , 1995, Ear and hearing.

[33]  Gerald A. Studebaker,et al.  The Vanderbilt Hearing Aid Report II , 1991 .

[34]  T Ricketts,et al.  Comparison of performance across three directional hearing aids. , 1999, Journal of the American Academy of Audiology.

[35]  R M Cox,et al.  Predictability and reliability of hearing aid benefit measured using the PHAB. , 1992, Journal of the American Academy of Audiology.

[36]  Mary T Cord,et al.  Performance of directional microphone hearing aids in everyday life. , 2002, Journal of the American Academy of Audiology.

[37]  Todd A Ricketts,et al.  Application of Frequency Importance Functions to Directivity for Prediction of Benefit in Uniform Fields , 2005, Ear and hearing.

[38]  Harry Levitt,et al.  Performance of directional microphones for hearing aids: real-world versus simulation. , 2004, Journal of the American Academy of Audiology.

[39]  D A Fabry,et al.  Effects of an adaptive filter hearing aid on speech recognition in noise by hearing-impaired subjects. , 1988, Ear and hearing.

[40]  D. Fabry.  Noise Reduction with FM Systems in FM/EM Mode , 1994, Ear and hearing.

[41]  J Verschuure,et al.  Directional hearing aid based on array technology. , 1993, Scandinavian audiology. Supplementum.

[42]  J G Collins,et al.  Prevalence of selected chronic conditions: United States, 1986-88. , 1993, Vital and health statistics. Series 10, Data from the National Health Survey.