Hearing Aids in the Real World: Use of Multimemory and Volume Controls

2011 ◽  
Vol 22 (06) ◽  
pp. 359-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shilpi Banerjee
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Real World ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Personal Digital Assistant ◽  
Bilateral Symmetry ◽  
Time Data ◽  
Environmental Characteristics ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
The Real ◽  
Left And Right

Background: Despite advances in technology, hearing aid users continue to express a desire for some control over their devices. Access to a suitable control can significantly affect overall satisfaction with amplification, yet little is known about the circumstances that drive hearing aid users to manipulate controls. Such information would be useful in guiding clinical decisions about the selection of controls and synchronization of their operation in a bilateral pair of hearing aids. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the real-world use of multimemory (MM) and volume (VC) controls and environmental characteristics that may influence their use. Research Design: Real-time data about MM and VC usage were gathered in the real world. Subjective reports of the environmental characteristics were obtained. This design allowed examination of the nature of hearing aid adjustments as well as exploration of factors affecting them. Study Sample: Ten adults with bilaterally symmetric, mild-to-moderate sensorineural hearing loss participated in the study. All had previous experience with hearing aids. Intervention: Participants were fitted bilaterally with BTE (behind-the-ear) hearing aids equipped with an MM button and/or VC wheel. The devices were connected to a PDA (personal digital assistant) that logged data from the hearing aids and stored surveys completed by participants in various listening situations. Data Collection and Analysis: The following data were obtained from the PDA: (1) MM and VC settings in the left and right devices, (2) broadband input level at the microphone of the left and right devices, and (3) participant reports of the presence, distance, and location of signal and background noise. Prevalence of nondefault settings and bilateral symmetry of hearing aid adjustments were summarized descriptively, while the influence of environmental characteristics on hearing aid adjustments was analyzed using nonparametric methods. Results: Over 4–5 wk, 912 hr of data were logged and 184 surveys completed. Results showed that (1) the default (i.e., the programmed or “use”) setting was preferred most often, (2) the preferred hearing aid settings were mostly bilaterally symmetrical, and (3) nondefault settings were often used in difficult listening situations. Conclusions: The findings of this study generally support the use of synchronized MMs and/or VCs, although there may be exceptions to their utility.

Hearing Aids in the Real World: Typical Automatic Behavior of Expansion, Directionality, and Noise Management

2011 ◽  
Vol 22 (01) ◽  
pp. 034-048 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shilpi Banerjee
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Real World ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Data Logging ◽  
High Input ◽  
Real World Data ◽  
The Real ◽  
Input Level ◽  
Noise Management

Background: Automatic DSP (digital signal processing) features, widely available in hearing aids today, are useful because they alleviate the need for the hearing aid wearer to manually adjust the hearing aid as listening conditions change. Although the theoretical basis for the design of these features may be sound, little is known about their behavior in the real world. Data logging offers a glimpse into the life of the individual hearing aid wearer, but there are no published data to date that provide a frame of reference for the interpretation of this information. Further, data logging in hearing aids provides only aggregate summaries for individual features, ignoring complex interactions including the differences between the left and right sides of a bilateral pair. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the typical behavior of three automatic DSP hearing aid features—expansion, directionality, and noise management—in daily life. Data Collection and Analysis: Ten individuals with hearing impairment were fitted bilaterally with BTE (behind the ear) hearing aids. The hearing aids were programmed for the individual's hearing loss with expansion, directionality, and noise management set to activate automatically. A PDA (personal digital assistant) logged the input level and status of expansion, directionality, and noise management from both devices at 5 sec intervals. Data were gathered in this manner over a period of 4–5 wk. Results: A total of 741 hr of hearing aid use were logged, 50% of which were spent in environments no louder than 50 dB SPL. Expansion, directionality, and noise management were active 45, 10, and 21% of the time, respectively; the median amount of gain reduction for noise management was ˜1 dB. Although expansion and noise management were always active at the low and high input levels, respectively, activation of directionality never exceeded 50%. Expansion and noise management were sometimes active simultaneously, as were directionality and noise management. Bilateral agreement in feature activation typically exceeded 80%, except when the input level was at the cusp of a threshold for activation of a specific feature and at high input levels.

scholarly journals Study of the correlation of factors affecting frequency of social activity transfer from virtual environment to real-world environment and vice versa

2019 ◽  
Vol 70 ◽  
pp. 08046
Author(s):  
Anton Zagranichniy
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Real World ◽  
Social Activity ◽  
Subjective Assessment ◽  
Demographic Characteristics ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
The Real ◽  
Size Number ◽  
Environment Factor ◽  
World Environment

The article presents research results demonstrating interrelation between factors affecting frequency of social activity transfer from the virtual environment to the real-world one and vice versa. In the course of the study we investigated 19 different factors, including socio-demographic characteristics, amount and specificity of contacts in each of the environments, subjective assessment of social activity characteristics in various environments. The study involved 214 respondents aged 15 to 24 from the cities of Balakovo, Saratov, and Moscow. We analysed and interpreted the correlation interrelation via social activity transfer from one environment to another and by such factors as: place of residence size; number of friends in the virtual environment; factor regarding frequency of misconduct situations that were followed by moral responsibility in the real environment; factor of compliance with social norms in the virtual environment.

Programmable Telecoil Responses

1994 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 59-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie A. Davidson ◽  
Colleen M. Noe
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Speech Understanding ◽  
The Real ◽  
Inductively Coupled

Ten experienced hearing aid users were tested to evaluate an assistive listening device inductively coupled to three different hearing aids—their own BTE hearing aid and associated telecoil, a programmable hearing aid with the telecoil programmed using the manufacturer's algorithm, and the same programmable hearing aid with the telecoil programmed so that the real-ear gain obtained with the hearing aid-assistive listening device combination matched a prescriptive target. Results indicated that modifying the telecoil response to match a prescriptive target can result in enhanced speech understanding and higher preference rankings.

scholarly journals Evaluating the Benefit of Hearing Aids with Motion-Based Beamformer Steering in a Real-World Setup

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Solveig Christina Voss ◽  
M Kathleen Pichora-Fuller ◽  
Ieda Ishida ◽  
April Emily Pereira ◽  
Julia Seiter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Real World ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Ecological Validity ◽  
Environmental Awareness ◽  
Sound Quality ◽  
Directional Hearing ◽  
Motion Sensor ◽  
Speech Understanding ◽  
Aid Programs

Background:Conventional directional hearing aid microphone technology would obstruct listening intentions in walking situations when the talker and listener walk side by side. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate hearing aids that use a motion sensor to address listening needs during walking. Methods:Participants were 22 older adults with moderate-to-severe hearing loss and experience using hearing aids. Each participant completed two walks in randomized order, one walk with each of two hearing aid programs: 1) a conventional classifier that activated an adaptive, multiband beamformer in loud environments and 2) a classifier that additionally utilized motion-based beamformer steering. Participants walked along a pre-defined track and completed tasks assessing speech understanding and environmental awareness. Results:Most participants preferred the motion-based beamformer steering for speech understanding, environmental awareness, overall listening, and sound quality (p<0.05). Additionally, measures of speech understanding (p<0.01) and localization of sound stimuli (p<0.05) were significantly better with the motion-based beamformer steering than with the conventional classifier.Conclusion:The results suggest that hearing aid users benefit from classifiers that use motion sensor input to adapt the signal processing according to the user’s activity. The real-world setup of this study had limitations but also high ecological validity.

scholarly journals Consistency of Hearing Aid Setting Preference in Simulated Real-World Environments: Implications for Trainable Hearing Aids

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 233121652093339
Author(s):  
Els Walravens ◽  
Gitte Keidser ◽  
Louise Hickson
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Real World ◽  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Traffic Noise ◽  
Fine Tuning ◽  
Signal To Noise ◽  
Acoustic Environment ◽  
Change Environment ◽  
Noise Ratio

Trainable hearing aids let users fine-tune their hearing aid settings in their own listening environment: Based on consistent user-adjustments and information about the acoustic environment, the trainable aids will change environment-specific settings to the user’s preference. A requirement for effective fine-tuning is consistency of preference for similar settings in similar environments. The aim of this study was to evaluate consistency of preference for settings differing in intensity, gain-frequency slope, and directionality when listening in simulated real-world environments and to determine if participants with more consistent preferences could be identified based on profile measures. A total of 52 adults (63–88 years) with hearing varying from normal to a moderate sensorineural hearing loss selected their preferred setting from pairs differing in intensity (3 or 6 dB), gain-frequency slope (±1.3 or ± 2.7 dB/octave), or directionality (omnidirectional vs. cardioid) in four simulated real-world environments: traffic noise, a monologue in traffic noise at 5 dB signal-to-noise ratio, and a dialogue in café noise at 5 and at 0 dB signal-to-noise ratio. Forced-choice comparisons were made 10 times for each combination of pairs of settings and environment. Participants also completed nine psychoacoustic, cognitive, and personality measures. Consistency of preference, defined by a setting preferred at least 9 out of 10 times, varied across participants. More participants obtained consistent preferences for larger differences between settings and less difficult environments. The profile measures did not predict consistency of preference. Trainable aid users could benefit from counselling to ensure realistic expectations for particular adjustments and listening situations.

Audiovisual Integration of Natural Auditory and Visual Stimuli in the Real-World Situation

2013 ◽  
pp. 337-344
Author(s):  
Xiaoyu Tang ◽  
Yulin Gao ◽  
Weiping Yang ◽  
Ming Zhang ◽  
Jinglong Wu
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Visual Stimuli ◽  
Neural Mechanism ◽  
Audiovisual Integration ◽  
Semantic Matching ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
The Real ◽  
Emotional Factors ◽  
The Future ◽  
Real World Situation

Bimodal audiovisual (AV) stimuli are detected or discriminated faster and more accurately than either visual or auditory unimodal stimuli. This effect is called audiovisual integration. Recently, researchers have been increasingly focused on the audiovisual integration of natural, auditory, and visual stimuli in real-world situations. There are some differences between audiovisual integration of naturalistic stimuli and non-naturalistic stimuli, such as the time of occurrence of audiovisual integration, and the neural mechanism. Factors affecting audiovisual integration in real-world situations are summarized here, with particular focus on temporal asynchrony and semantic matching. Stimuli of audiovisual integration in the real-world situation should be controlled strictly, especially emotional factors, familiarity factors, semantic matching, and the match of the naturalistic stimuli and non-naturalistic stimuli. In the future, researchers should study the influence of attention on audiovisual integration and the mechanism of audiovisual integration with naturalistic stimuli in the real-world situation.

Using Trainable Hearing Aids to Examine Real-World Preferred Gain

2008 ◽  
Vol 19 (10) ◽  
pp. 758-773 ◽  
Author(s):  
H Gustav Mueller ◽  
Benjamin W.Y. Hornsby ◽  
Jennifer E. Weber
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Real World ◽  
Field Trial ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Volume Control ◽  
Hearing Aid Use ◽  
Start Up ◽  
Listening Environments ◽  
Few Data

Background: While there have been many studies of real-world preferred hearing aid gain, few data are available from participants using hearing aids with today's special features activated. Moreover, only limited data have been collected regarding preferred gain for individuals using trainable hearing aids. Purpose: To determine whether real-world preferred hearing aid gain with trainable modern hearing aids is in agreement with previous work in this area, and to determine whether the starting programmed gain setting influences preferred gain outcome. Research Design: An experimental crossover study. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups. Following initial treatment, each subject crossed to the opposite group and experienced that treatment. Study Sample: Twenty-two adults with downward sloping sensorineural hearing loss served as participants (mean age 64.5; 16 males, 6 females). All were experienced users of bilateral amplification. Intervention: Using a crossover design, participants were fitted to two different prescriptive gain conditions: VC (volume control) start-up 6 dB above NAL-NL1 (National Acoustic Laboratories—Non-linear 1) target or VC start-up 6 dB below NAL-NL1 target. The hearing aids were used in a 10 to 14 day field trial for each condition, and using the VC, the participants could “train” the overall hearing aid gain to their preferred level. During the field trial, daily hearing aid use was logged, as well as the listening situations experienced by the listeners based on the hearing instrument's acoustic scene analysis. The participants completed a questionnaire at the start and end of each field trial in which they rated loudness perceptions and their satisfaction with aided loudness levels. Results: Because several participants potentially experienced floor or ceiling effects for the range of trainable gain, the majority of the statistical analysis was conducted using 12 of the 22 participants. For both VC-start conditions, the trained preferred gain differed significantly from the NAL-NL1 prescriptive targets. More importantly, the initial start-up gain significantly influenced the trained gain; the mean preferred gain for the +6 dB start condition was approximately 9 dB higher than the preferred gain for the −6 dB start condition, and this difference was statistically significant (p < .001). Partial eta squared (η2) = 0.919, which is a large effect size.Deviation from the NAL-NL1 target was not significantly influenced by the time spent in different listening environments, amount of hearing aid use during the trial period, or amount of hearing loss. Questionnaire data showed more appropriate ratings for loudness and higher satisfaction with loudness for the 6 dB below target VC-start condition. Conclusions: When trainable hearing aids are used, the initial programmed gain of hearing instruments can influence preferred gain in the real world.

Fitting Hearing Aids to Adults Using Prescriptive Methods: An Evidence-Based Review of Effectiveness

2005 ◽  
Vol 16 (07) ◽  
pp. 448-460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gustav H. Mueller
Keyword(s):  
Outcome Measures ◽  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Real World ◽  
Statistical Power ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Research Review ◽  
Inclusion Criteria ◽  
Level Of Evidence ◽  
Common Reference ◽  
Fitting Procedure

The use of a prescriptive fitting approach for hearing aid selection has been a common practice for the past 60–70 years. While there are prescriptive approaches that have been validated, in recent years it has become popular to deviate from these validated methods and use manufacturers' proprietary algorithms, which in many cases are significantly different. This research review was designed to examine if there was evidence supporting the use of specific gain requirements for hearing aid fitting. Specifically, the question that was asked was "Are there real-world outcome measures from adult patients that show a preference for the gain prescribed by a specific prescriptive fitting procedure?" Inclusion criteria were as follows: adult subjects, consistent technology (e.g., different prescriptive methods compared using same hearing aids), real-ear verification of gain, and real-world outcome measures. For this review, in addition to subjective responses, preferred use gain was considered a real-world outcome measure. The National Acoustic Laboratories' revised (NAL-R), revised for severe/profound (NAL-RP), and the National Acoustic Laboratories—Non-Linear 1 (NAL-NL1) prescriptive methods were used as a common reference, as they have been the most commonly studied methods with adults.Eleven studies were identified that met the inclusion criteria. Eight of the studies supported gain similar to that prescribed by the NAL-R or NAL-RP methods; three studies supported prescribed gain less than the NAL-R or NAL-RP. There was no evidence that gain greater than that prescribed by the NAL methods should be used. The level of evidence was moderate, as the supporting studies were either Level 2 or Level 4, and the statistical power of the studies was low.

Effects of CIC Hearing Aids on Auditory Localization by Listeners With Normal Hearing

2001 ◽  
Vol 44 (6) ◽  
pp. 1209-1214 ◽  
Author(s):  
William R. D'Angelo ◽  
Robert S. Bolia ◽  
Pamela J. Mishler ◽  
Linda J. Morris
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Real World ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Broadband Noise ◽  
Auditory Localization ◽  
Ear Canal ◽  
Independent Variables ◽  
Significant Decrement ◽  
Localization Performance

An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of completely-in-the-canal (CIC) hearing aids on auditory localization performance. Six normal-hearing listeners localized a 750-ms broadband noise from loudspeakers ranging in azimuth from –180° to +180° and in elevation from –75° to +90°. Independent variables included the presence or absence of the hearing aid and the elevation of the source. Dependent measures included azimuth error, elevation error, and the percentage of trials resulting in a front-back confusion. The findings indicate a statistically significant decrement in localization acuity, both in azimuth and elevation, occasioned by the wearing of CIC hearing aids. However, the magni-tude of this decrement was small compared to those typically caused by other ear-canal occlusions, such as earplugs, and would probably not engender mislocalization of real-world sounds.

scholarly journals Effects of Background Color, Flash and Exposure Value on the Accuracy of Smartphone-Based Pill Recognition System Using Deep Convolutional Neural Network (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
KyeongMin Cha
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Color Difference ◽  
Recognition System ◽  
Reference Image ◽  
White Background ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
The Real ◽  
Black Background ◽  
The Difference ◽  
World Image

BACKGROUND It is difficult to develop a drug image recognition system due to the difference of the pill color influenced by external environmental factors such as the illumination or presence of flash. OBJECTIVE In this study, we wanted to see how the difference in color between the reference image and the real-world image affects the accuracy in pill recognition under 12 real-world conditions according to the background colors, presence of flash, and exposure values (EV). METHODS We used 19 medications with different features of colors, shapes, and dosages. The average color difference was calculated based on the color distance between the reference image and the real-world image. RESULTS In the case of the black background, as the exposure value lowered, the accuracy of top-1 and top-5 increased independently of the presence of flash. The top-5 accuracy in black background increased from 26.8% to 72.6% with the flash on and from 29.5% to 76.8% with the flash off as EV decreased as well. On the other hand, top-5 accuracy was 62.1% to 78.4% in white background with the flash on. The best top-1 accuracy was 51.1 % in the white background, flash on, and EV+2.0. The best top-5 accuracy was 78.4% in the white background, flash on, and EV0. CONCLUSIONS The accuracy generally increased as the color difference decreased except in the case of black background and EV-2.0. This study reveals that the background colors, presence of flash, and exposure values in real-world conditions are important factors affecting the performance of a pill recognition model.

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