Need of Hearing Assistance Technology (HAT) for Adults with Hearing Impairment

Objectives This study investigates the hypothesis that hearing aid amplification reduces effort within conversation for both hearing aid wearers and their communication partners. Levels of effort, in the form of speech production modifications, required to maintain successful spoken communication in a range of acoustic environments are compared to earlier reported results measured in unaided conversation conditions. Design Fifteen young adult normal-hearing participants and 15 older adult hearing-impaired participants were tested in pairs. Each pair consisted of one young normal-hearing participant and one older hearing-impaired participant. Hearing-impaired participants received directional hearing aid amplification, according to their audiogram, via a master hearing aid with gain provided according to the NAL-NL2 fitting formula. Pairs of participants were required to take part in naturalistic conversations through the use of a referential communication task. Each pair took part in five conversations, each of 5-min duration. During each conversation, participants were exposed to one of five different realistic acoustic environments presented through highly open headphones. The ordering of acoustic environments across experimental blocks was pseudorandomized. Resulting recordings of conversational speech were analyzed to determine the magnitude of speech modifications, in terms of vocal level and spectrum, produced by normal-hearing talkers as a function of both acoustic environment and the degree of high-frequency average hearing impairment of their conversation partner. Results The magnitude of spectral modifications of speech produced by normal-hearing talkers during conversations with aided hearing-impaired interlocutors was smaller than the speech modifications observed during conversations between the same pairs of participants in the absence of hearing aid amplification. Conclusions The provision of hearing aid amplification reduces the effort required to maintain communication in adverse conditions. This reduction in effort provides benefit to hearing-impaired individuals and also to the conversation partners of hearing-impaired individuals. By considering the impact of amplification on both sides of dyadic conversations, this approach contributes to an increased understanding of the likely impact of hearing impairment on everyday communication.

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Spoken Language Assessment Considerations for Children With Hearing Impairment When the Home Language Is Not English

Perspectives on Hearing and Hearing Disorders Research and Diagnostics ◽

10.1044/hhd21.1.4 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

pp. 4-19

Author(s):

M. Douglas

Keyword(s):

Hearing Impairment ◽

Language Assessment ◽

Spoken Language ◽

Home Language

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Relationships Between Subjective Ratings and Objective Measures of Performance in Speechreading Sentences

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/jslhr.4004.900 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 40 (4) ◽

pp. 900-911 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Marilyn E. Demorest ◽

Lynne E. Bernstein

Keyword(s):

Hearing Impairment ◽

Performance Evaluations ◽

Objective Measures ◽

Large Individual ◽

Subjective Ratings ◽

Objective Performance ◽

Phonetic Distance ◽

Stimulus Length ◽

Measures Of Performance ◽

Confidence Scale

Ninety-six participants with normal hearing and 63 with severe-to-profound hearing impairment viewed 100 CID Sentences (Davis & Silverman, 1970) and 100 B-E Sentences (Bernstein & Eberhardt, 1986b). Objective measures included words correct, phonemes correct, and visual-phonetic distance between the stimulus and response. Subjective ratings were made on a 7-point confidence scale. Magnitude of validity coefficients ranged from .34 to .76 across materials, measures, and groups. Participants with hearing impairment had higher levels of objective performance, higher subjective ratings, and higher validity coefficients, although there were large individual differences. Regression analyses revealed that subjective ratings are predictable from stimulus length, response length, and objective performance. The ability of speechreaders to make valid performance evaluations was interpreted in terms of contemporary word recognition models.

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