Hearing Research: Does Directional Benefit Vary Systematically with Omnidirectional Performance?
By Jesperson, Charlotte Thunberg, MA; Olsen, Steen Ostergaard; Hearing Review, Vol. 10, No. 11Publication Date: October 2003
Study aimed to examine whether the outcome of an aided speech-in-noise intelligibility task using hearing aids in omnidirectional mode can help predict the amount of directional hearing aid benefit. The study was conducted under laboratory conditions, and the participants did not have a real-world trial period with directional hearing aids prior to the speech testing. Thirty-two adults with hearing impairments participated in the study. The participants ranged in age from 28 to 81. The hearing instrument used in the study was the GN ReSound Canta 77-D BET, which is a digital hearing aid with adjustable compression ratios in 14 overlapping bands and 4 programming configurations. The study design included two testing conditions: (1) testing with the hearing aid programmed with an omnidirectional microphone, and (2) testing with the hearing aid programmed with a directional program. The Datale II sentence test was used to determine the hearing threshold for each testing condition. Results revealed no statistically significant correlation between the hearing threshold in omnidirectional mode and directional benefit. Degree of hearing loss was found to influence omnidirectional and directional performance, but not directional benefit.
Assistive Products Discussed: RESOUND PERSONAL HEARING SYSTEMS
Published by: Ascend Media LLC (Website:http://www.ascendmedia.com)
Link to text: http://hearingreview.com/Articles.ASP?articleid=H0310F01
