Some Implications of Binaural Signal Selection for Hearing Aid Evaluation
Clinical techniques for evaluating binaural hearing aids have been inconclusive. This paper offers some explanations of shortcomings in present approaches, concentrating upon several characteristics to be included in an adequate clinical procedure. These are the presence of competing sound; S/N ratios permitting measurable increases in discrimination from advantageous listening conditions; elimination of localization and sidedness effects; and the requirement of long duration signals with credit for partial responses. The study was an approach on normal-hearing individuals under several S/N ratios, with occlusion of one ear as an experimental variable. Listening was accomplished under homophasic and antiphasic conditions for each combination of the other conditions. Results demonstrated significant differences among the listening conditions and the results have been rationalized in schema for testing binaural hearing aids under various hearing-loss circumstances. Applications to auditory training are discussed.