scholarly journals Study of 6 months' trial usage of hearing aid in hearing-impaired elderly outpatients visiting the Center for Memory Disorders

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 142-149
Author(s):  
Yasue Uchida ◽  
Saiko Sugiura ◽  
Takafumi Nakada ◽  
Erina Ito ◽  
Anna Yoshihara ◽  
...  
2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 1299-1311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Beechey ◽  
Jörg M. Buchholz ◽  
Gitte Keidser

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.


2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyoung Won Lee ◽  
Jin Sook Kim
Keyword(s):  

1984 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Geller ◽  
Robert H. Margolis

Three experiments were conducted to explore the utility of magnitude estimation of loudness for hearing aid selection. In Experiment 1 the loudness discomfort level (LDL), most comfortable loudness (MCL), and magnitude estimations (MEs) of loudness were obtained from normal-hearing subjects. MCLs fell within a range of loudnesses that was relatively low on the loudness function. The LDLs were lower than previously published values. Experiment 2 was performed to identify the source of disparity between our LDL data and previously reported results. The effects of instructions are demonstrated and discussed. In Experiment 3 magnitude estimations of loudness were used to determine the loudness of tonal stimuli selected to represent ⅓ octave band levels of speech. Over the 500–4000 Hz range, the contributions of the various frequency regions to the loudness of speech appears to be nearly constant. Methods are proposed for (a) predicting the frequency-gain response of a hearing aid that restores normal loudness for speech for the hearing-impaired listener and (b) psychophysically evaluating the compression characteristic of a hearing aid.


2003 ◽  
Vol 123 (7) ◽  
pp. 846-850 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Duijvestijn ◽  
L. J. C. Anteunis ◽  
C. J. Hoek ◽  
R.H.S. Van Den Brink ◽  
M. N. Chenault ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
pp. 132-136
Author(s):  
Hiroshi Ikeda ◽  
Shigeyuki Minami

Hearing impaired persons are required to drive with hearing aids to supplement their hearing ability, however, there has not been sufficient discussion regarding the impact of the use of a hearing aid on driving a vehicle. In order to investigate the actual usage and driving conditions of using hearing aids while driving a vehicle, this paper uses a questionnaire to survey (1) how easy it is to drive when wearing hearing aids, and (2) how often hearing aids are not worn while driving. Concerning the ease of driving when wearing a hearing aid, it was suggested that people with congenital hearing loss were more likely to rely on visual information, and those with acquired hearing loss continue to use their experience of hearing. When the level of disability is high, it is difficult to drive when using the hearing aid, and when the disability level is low, it is easier to drive. Regarding the frequency of driving without wearing hearing aids, about 60 % of respondents had such an experience. Those who often drive without hearing aids had experienced headaches due to noise from wearing hearing aids compared to those who wear hearing aids at all times. Hearing aids are necessary assistive devices for hearing impaired persons to obtain hearing information, and to provide a safe driving environment. Therefore, this paper addresses issues to maintain a comfortable driving environment while wearing a hearing aid.


1990 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 676-689 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Fabry ◽  
Dianne J. Van Tasell

The Articulation Index (AI) was used to evaluate an “adaptive frequency response” (AFR) hearing aid with amplification characteristics that automatically change to become more high-pass with increasing levels of background noise. Speech intelligibility ratings of connected discourse by normal-hearing subjects were predicted well by an empirically derived AI transfer function. That transfer function was used to predict aided speech intelligibility ratings by 12 hearing-impaired subjects wearing a master hearing aid with the Argosy Manhattan Circuit enabled (AFR-on) or disabled (AFR-off). For all subjects, the AI predicted no improvements in speech intelligibility for the AFR-on versus AFR-off condition, and no significant improvements in rated intelligibility were observed. The ability of the AI to predict aided speech intelligibility varied across subjects. However, ratings from every hearing-impaired subject were related monotonically to AI. Therefore, AI calculations may be used to predict relative—but not absolute—levels of speech intelligibility produced under different amplification conditions.


2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 196-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Convery ◽  
Gitte Keidser ◽  
Lisa Hartley ◽  
Andrea Caposecco ◽  
Louise Hickson ◽  
...  

1998 ◽  
Vol 87 (2) ◽  
pp. 703-706 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerhard Andersson

In this report data on hearing aid use were combined from three randomized controlled studies on behavioural hearing tactics. Daily average hearing aid use at pretreatment and posttreatment were analysed for 63 older hearing-impaired persons who had either received treatment or acted as controls. Analysis showed a significant, albeit weak, decrease in daily hearing aid use for those subjects who had received the treatment. The utility of amount of hearing aid use as an indicator of rehabilitation success is discussed.


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