scholarly journals The Use of Frequency Lowering Technology in the Treatment of Severe-to-Profound Hearing Loss: A Review of the Literature and Candidacy Considerations for Clinical Application

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (04) ◽  
pp. 377-389 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Scollie ◽  
Danielle Glista
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Hearing Impairment ◽  
Clinical Application ◽  
Current Literature ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Verification And Validation ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Profound Hearing Loss

AbstractThis article provides a review of the current literature on the topic of frequency lowering hearing aid technology specific to the treatment of severe and profound levels of hearing impairment in child and adult listeners. Factors to consider when assessing listener candidacy for frequency lowering technology are discussed. These include factors related to audiometric assessment, the listener, the type of hearing aid technology, and the verification and validation procedures that can assist in determining candidacy for frequency lowering technology. An individualized candidacy assessment including the use of real-ear verification measures and carefully chosen validation tools are recommended for listeners requiring greater audibility of high-frequency sounds, when compared with amplification via conventional hearing aid technology.

Preferred Low- and High-Frequency Compression Ratios among Hearing Aid Users with Moderately Severe to Profound Hearing Loss

2007 ◽  
Vol 18 (01) ◽  
pp. 017-033 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gitte Keidser ◽  
Harvey Dillon ◽  
Ole Dyrlund ◽  
Lyndal Carter ◽  
David Hartley
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Fine Tuning ◽  
Adaptive Procedure ◽  
Profound Hearing Loss ◽  
Low Frequencies ◽  
Frequency Compression ◽  
Fast Acting

This study aimed to determine the low- and high-frequency compression ratios of a fast-acting device that were preferred by people with moderately severe to profound hearing loss. Three compression ratios (1:1, 1.8:1, and 3:1) were combined in the low and high frequencies to produce nine schemes that were evaluated pair-wise for three weeks in the field using an adaptive procedure. The evaluation was performed by 21 experienced hearing aid users with a moderately severe to profound hearing loss. Diaries and an exit interview were used to monitor preferences. Generally, the subjects preferred lower compression ratios than are typically prescribed, especially in the low frequencies. Specifically, 11 subjects preferred linear amplification in the low frequencies, and 14 subjects preferred more compression in the high than in the low frequencies. Preferences could not be predicted from audiometric data, onset of loss, or past experience with amplification. The data suggest that clients with moderately severe to profound hearing loss should be fitted with low-frequency compression ratios in the range 1:1 to 2:1 and that fine-tuning is essential. Este estudio trató de determinar las tasas de compresión de alta y baja frecuencia de un dispositivo de acción rápida, que resultara preferido por personas con hipoacusias moderadamente severas a profundas. Se combinaron tres tasas de compresión (1:1, 1.8:1, y 3:1) en las frecuencias graves y agudas para producir nueve esquemas que fueron evaluados en el campo, en pares, durante tres semanas, utilizando un procedimiento de adaptación. La evaluación fue realizada por 21 usuarios experimentados de audífono con hipoacusias moderadamente severas a profundas. Se usaron diarios y un cuestionario final para monitorear las preferencias. Generalmente, los sujetos prefirieron menores tasas de compresión de lo que típicamente se prescribe, especialmente en las bajas frecuencias. Específicamente, 11 sujetos prefirieron la amplificación lineal en las frecuencias graves y 14 sujetos prefirieron más compresión en las frecuencias altas. Las preferencias no podían predecirse a partir de los datos audiométricos, del inicio de la pérdida, o por experiencias anteriores con amplificación. Los datos sugieren que los clientes con hipoacusias moderadamente severas a profundas, deberían adaptarse con tasas de compresión en las frecuencias graves en el rango de 1:1 a 2:1, y que un ajuste fino es esencial.

Modified Earpieces and CROS for High Frequency Hearing Losses

1968 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 204-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Dodds ◽  
Earl Harford
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Hearing Aids ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Sound Field ◽  
Intensity Level ◽  
Test Results ◽  
High Frequency Hearing Loss ◽  
Increased Sensitivity ◽  
Difficult Cases

Persons with a high frequency hearing loss are difficult cases for whom to find suitable amplification. We have experienced some success with this problem in our Hearing Clinics using a specially designed earmold with a hearing aid. Thirty-five cases with high frequency hearing losses were selected from our clinical files for analysis of test results using standard, vented, and open earpieces. A statistical analysis of test results revealed that PB scores in sound field, using an average conversational intensity level (70 dB SPL), were enhanced when utilizing any one of the three earmolds. This result was due undoubtedly to increased sensitivity provided by the hearing aid. Only the open earmold used with a CROS hearing aid resulted in a significant improvement in discrimination when compared with the group’s unaided PB score under earphones or when comparing inter-earmold scores. These findings suggest that the inclusion of the open earmold with a CROS aid in the audiologist’s armamentarium should increase his flexibility in selecting hearing aids for persons with a high frequency hearing loss.

Feasibility of smartphone-based hearing-aid apps for patients with mild hearing loss: an exploratory pilot study (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Willy Nguyen ◽  
Miseung Koo ◽  
Seung Ha Oh ◽  
Jun Ho Lee ◽  
Moo Kyun Park
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Hearing Impairment ◽  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Clinical Performance ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
National Standards ◽  
Hearing In Noise ◽  
Mild Hearing Loss ◽  
Consumer Devices ◽  
Selection Of

BACKGROUND Underuse of hearing aids is caused by several factors, including the stigma associated with hearing disability, affordability, and lack of awareness of rising hearing impairment associated with the growing population. Thus, there is a significant opportunity for the development of direct-to-consumer devices. For the past few years, smartphone-based hearing-aid apps have become more numerous and diverse, but few studies have investigated them. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to elucidate the electroacoustic characteristics and potential user benefits of a selection of currently available hearing-aid apps. METHODS We investigated the apps based on hearing-aid control standards (American National Standards Institute) using measurement procedures from previous studies. We categorized the apps and excluded those we considered inefficient. We investigated a selection of user-friendly, low-end apps, EarMachine and Sound Amplifier, with warble-tone audiometry, word recognition testing in unaided and aided conditions, and hearing-in-noise test in quiet and noise-front conditions in a group of users with mild hearing impairment (n = 7) as a pilot for a future long-term investigation. Results from the apps were compared with those of a conventional hearing aid. RESULTS Five of 14 apps were considered unusable based on low scores in several metrics, while the others varied across the range of electroacoustic measurements. The apps that we considered “high end” that provided lower processing latencies and audiogram-based fitting algorithms were superior overall. The clinical performance of the listeners tended to be better when using hearing aid, while the low end hearing-aid apps had limited benefits on the users. CONCLUSIONS Some apps showed the potential to benefit users with limited cases of minimal or mild hearing loss if the inconvenience of relatively poor electroacoustic performance did not outweigh the benefits of amplification.

The Effect of Conventional and Transparent Surgical Masks on Speech Understanding in Individuals with and without Hearing Loss

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (01) ◽  
pp. 058-067 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel R. Atcherson ◽  
Lisa Lucks Mendel ◽  
Wesley J. Baltimore ◽  
Chhayakanta Patro ◽  
Sungmin Lee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Speech Perception ◽  
Hearing Impairment ◽  
Visual Input ◽  
Acoustic Properties ◽  
Speech Understanding ◽  
Profound Hearing Loss ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Surgical Masks ◽  
Significant Difference

AbstractIt is generally well known that speech perception is often improved with integrated audiovisual input whether in quiet or in noise. In many health-care environments, however, conventional surgical masks block visual access to the mouth and obscure other potential facial cues. In addition, these environments can be noisy. Although these masks may not alter the acoustic properties, the presence of noise in addition to the lack of visual input can have a deleterious effect on speech understanding. A transparent (“see-through”) surgical mask may help to overcome this issue.To compare the effect of noise and various visual input conditions on speech understanding for listeners with normal hearing (NH) and hearing impairment using different surgical masks.Participants were assigned to one of three groups based on hearing sensitivity in this quasi-experimental, cross-sectional study.A total of 31 adults participated in this study: one talker, ten listeners with NH, ten listeners with moderate sensorineural hearing loss, and ten listeners with severe-to-profound hearing loss.Selected lists from the Connected Speech Test were digitally recorded with and without surgical masks and then presented to the listeners at 65 dB HL in five conditions against a background of four-talker babble (+10 dB SNR): without a mask (auditory only), without a mask (auditory and visual), with a transparent mask (auditory only), with a transparent mask (auditory and visual), and with a paper mask (auditory only).A significant difference was found in the spectral analyses of the speech stimuli with and without the masks; however, no more than ∼2 dB root mean square. Listeners with NH performed consistently well across all conditions. Both groups of listeners with hearing impairment benefitted from visual input from the transparent mask. The magnitude of improvement in speech perception in noise was greatest for the severe-to-profound group.Findings confirm improved speech perception performance in noise for listeners with hearing impairment when visual input is provided using a transparent surgical mask. Most importantly, the use of the transparent mask did not negatively affect speech perception performance in noise.

scholarly journals Evidence of Acclimatization in Persons with Severe-to-Profound Hearing Loss

2003 ◽  
Vol 14 (02) ◽  
pp. 084-099 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis K. Kuk ◽  
Lisa Potts ◽  
Michael Valente ◽  
Lidia Lee ◽  
Jay Picirrillo
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Speech Recognition ◽  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Profound Hearing Loss ◽  
Secondary Purpose ◽  
Objective Performance ◽  
Recognition Testing ◽  
The One ◽  
Better Than

The present study examined the phenomenon of acclimatization in persons with a severe-to-profound hearing loss. A secondary purpose was to examine the efficacy of a digital nonlinear power hearing aid that has a low compression threshold with expansion for this population. Twenty experienced hearing aid users wore the study hearing aids for three months and their performance with the study hearing aids was evaluated at the initial fitting, one month, and three months after the initial fitting. Performance of their current hearing aids was also evaluated at the initial fitting. Speech recognition testing was conducted at input levels of 50 dB SPL and 65 dB SPL in quiet, and 75 dB SPL in noise at a +10 SNR. Questionnaires were used to measure subjective performance at each evaluation interval. The results showed improvement in speech recognition score at the one-month evaluation over the initial evaluation. No significant improvement was seen at the three-month evaluation from the one-month visit. In addition, subjective and objective performance of the study hearing aids was significantly better than the participants' own hearing aids at all evaluation intervals. These results provided evidence of acclimatization in persons with a severe-to-profound hearing loss and reinforced the precaution that any trial of amplification, especially from linear to nonlinear mode, should consider this phenomenon.

The Hearing Performance Inventory and Hearing Aid Use in Profound Hearing Loss

1980 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 470-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elmer Owens ◽  
Sharon Fujikawa
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Superior Performance ◽  
Profound Hearing Loss ◽  
Hearing Aid Use

Subjects with profound postlingual hearing loss completed the Hearing Performance Inventory (HPI) during the course of their hearing aid evaluations. Comparisons of responses to the HPI were made for (a) subjects who wore hearing aids versus subjects who did not, and (b)hearing aid users with losses greater than 100 dB versus users with losses between 80-100 dB. The former set of comparisons indicated consistently superior performance for the aided group, and the latter set indicated consistently superior performance for the 80-100 dB group. The HPI may be a valuable tool in hearing aid considerations.

scholarly journals Listener Performance with a Novel Hearing Aid Frequency Lowering Technique

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (09) ◽  
pp. 810-822 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin J. Kirby ◽  
Judy G. Kopun ◽  
Meredith Spratford ◽  
Clairissa M. Mollak ◽  
Marc A. Brennan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Signal Processing ◽  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Speech Perception ◽  
Hearing Aids ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Sound Quality ◽  
Processing Strategy ◽  
Listening Effort ◽  
At Home

AbstractSloping hearing loss imposes limits on audibility for high-frequency sounds in many hearing aid users. Signal processing algorithms that shift high-frequency sounds to lower frequencies have been introduced in hearing aids to address this challenge by improving audibility of high-frequency sounds.This study examined speech perception performance, listening effort, and subjective sound quality ratings with conventional hearing aid processing and a new frequency-lowering signal processing strategy called frequency composition (FC) in adults and children.Participants wore the study hearing aids in two signal processing conditions (conventional processing versus FC) at an initial laboratory visit and subsequently at home during two approximately six-week long trials, with the order of conditions counterbalanced across individuals in a double-blind paradigm.Children (N = 12, 7 females, mean age in years = 12.0, SD = 3.0) and adults (N = 12, 6 females, mean age in years = 56.2, SD = 17.6) with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss who were full-time hearing aid users.Individual performance with each type of processing was assessed using speech perception tasks, a measure of listening effort, and subjective sound quality surveys at an initial visit. At the conclusion of each subsequent at-home trial, participants were retested in the laboratory. Linear mixed effects analyses were completed for each outcome measure with signal processing condition, age group, visit (prehome versus posthome trial), and measures of aided audibility as predictors.Overall, there were few significant differences in speech perception, listening effort, or subjective sound quality between FC and conventional processing, effects of listener age, or longitudinal changes in performance. Listeners preferred FC to conventional processing on one of six subjective sound quality metrics. Better speech perception performance was consistently related to higher aided audibility.These results indicate that when high-frequency speech sounds are made audible with conventional processing, speech recognition ability and listening effort are similar between conventional processing and FC. Despite the lack of benefit to speech perception, some listeners still preferred FC, suggesting that qualitative measures should be considered when evaluating candidacy for this signal processing strategy.

Is there a relationship between premature hair greying and hearing impairment?

2015 ◽  
Vol 129 (11) ◽  
pp. 1097-1100 ◽  
Author(s):  
I Ozbay ◽  
C Kahraman ◽  
C Kucur ◽  
N D Namdar ◽  
F Oghan
Keyword(s):  
Bone Mineral Density ◽  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Hearing Impairment ◽  
Bone Mineral ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Mineral Density ◽  
Low Bone Mineral Density ◽  
High Frequency Audiometry

AbstractObjective:There is evidence for a strong correlation between low bone mineral density and hearing loss. Furthermore, premature hair greying has been associated with low bone mineral density. Hence, this study aimed to investigate, for the first time, the relationship between premature hair greying and hearing impairment.Methods:Fifty patients with premature hair greying (20 women and 30 men), aged under 40 years (mean, 30.1 ± 4.9 years), who had onset of hair greying in their twenties, were recruited, along with 45 age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects (17 women and 28 men; mean age, 28.7 ± 5.1 years). Each participant was tested with low frequency audiometry at 0.125 to 2 kHz, high frequency audiometry at 4 to 8 kHz, and extended high frequency audiometry at 9 to 20 kHz.Results:Hearing thresholds were similar at all frequencies from 0.25 to 4 kHz (p > 0.05); however, significant hearing loss was observed at all frequencies from 8 to 20 kHz in the premature hair greying group compared with the control group (p < 0.05).Conclusion:Patients with premature hair greying had hearing impairment at extended high frequencies. Premature hair greying may be an important risk factor for hearing loss.

Bilateral Evoked Otoacoustic Emissions in a Child with Bilateral Profound Hearing Loss

1996 ◽  
Vol 105 (4) ◽  
pp. 286-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence Laccourreye ◽  
Esther Tran BA Huy ◽  
Martine François ◽  
Philippe Narcy
Keyword(s):  
Computed Tomography ◽  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Brain Stem ◽  
Inner Ear ◽  
Otoacoustic Emissions ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Profound Hearing Loss ◽  
Normal Limits

Recording of bilateral evoked otoacoustic emissions in a 3-year-old girl with bilateral profound hearing loss is presented. No component of auditory-evoked brain stem potentials was recorded. Findings on computed tomography of the inner ear were within normal limits. At retest 3 months later, these results were unchanged. Explanations for this particular condition are presented together with a review of the literature.

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