A systematic review and meta-analysis of digital noise reduction hearing aids in adults.

OBJECTIVE: Systematic evaluation and meta-analysis of the effects of digital noise reduction (DNR) algorithms on speech intelligibility, sound quality and listening effort in adult populations. DESIGN: Systematic review and meta-analysis. STUDY SAMPLE: Six databases were searched for experimental studies published from 2000 to 2017 in English using the following search terms: "hearing aid" and "noise reduction". A total of 264 unique hits were obtained; out of which, 16 studies were included. RESULTS: The population effect was estimated for speech intelligibility and other subjective measures. From six studies, the population effect estimated for speech intelligibility measures was small (r = 0.28) with zero population variance. Sample size variance accounted for all the effect size variations found across studies. The population effect for subjective measures was medium (r = 0.46 ± 0.10) as calculated from seven studies. CONCLUSIONS: Based on a criterion of moderate evidence, this meta-analysis did not reveal a consistent improvement in speech intelligibility with DNR in adult population. The subjective outcome measures (e.g., acceptable noise level and sound quality judgment) showed a moderate positive effect of DNR.Implications for RehabilitationThe findings of the study will provide useful clinical information in follow up visits in audiologic rehabilitation.The meta-analysis of DNR informs clinicians to create realistic expectations in hearing aid users.This paper summarizes the available data on different outcome measures such as speech intelligibility, listening effort and sound quality.The results of this meta-analysis will help clinical audiologists in devising hearing aid orientation and counseling.

Audiologists' preferences in programming cochlear implants: A preliminary report.

Background: There is little data available addressing how clinical audiologists handle cochlear implant (CI) programming between device manufacturers and make decisions on related services, particularly in the United States. Objectives: This study sought to understand the techniques and settings professionals use with their patients, how they approach bimodal fitting, which tests they use to evaluate patient and device performance, and their overall preferences of (re)habilitative options. Methods: A questionnaire was developed and distributed to CI audiologists throughout the United States electronically. Results: All respondents reported either always or almost always using Cochlear's default signal processing strategy in contrast to the 64% reported for Med-El and 40% for Advanced Bionics. A trend of less use of electrically evoked stapedial reflex threshold (eSRT) than electrically evoked compound action potentials (eCAP) for objective measures was revealed. Higher likelihood of performing speech recognition tests in quiet than in noise was revealed. Preferences for bimodal fitting trend toward using a partner company's hearing aid, although preferences were comparable in adopting four types of hearing aid formulas surveyed in the questionnaire. Conclusions: These data confirm high variability among audiologists' CI programming practices, and documenting these differences is an important step to understanding how to best treat patients.

Consumer Opinion of Personal Sound Amplification Products: A Preliminary Sentiment Analysis.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to preliminarily investigate the sentiments associated with consumer opinions of personal sound amplification products (PSAPs). Method Online reviews of 21 popular PSAPs were collected from the Amazon.com website. The reviews for each product were exported to compile individual product-specific text files. A sentiment mining analysis was completed to aggregate the number of positive and negative comments for each product. In addition, the effect of value for money, available features, perceived benefit, and overall perception of PSAPs was evaluated. A correlational analysis was completed to examine the relationship between different PSAP features and the number of positive and negative comments. Results Mixed-model analysis of variance showed a significantly higher number of positive comments for high- and mid-cost products in terms of overall perception and perceived benefit compared to low-cost products. For feature attribute, high-cost products had significantly higher positive comments compared to mid- and low-cost products. There was a strong correlation between price and positive comments and a moderate correlation between price and negative comments. Also, there was a significant moderate correlation between presence of compression and feedback suppression PSAP features and positive comments. Conclusions Positive sentiments expressed toward PSAPs were found to favor high- and mid-level products. However, there was a considerably high number of negative sentiments reported across all the PSAPs investigated. The noticeable thing is that the negative comments do not change significantly across price ranges. However, the positive comments significantly increase with an increase in product price range. This indicates a possible increase in benefit with high-cost products. However, this claim requires further empirical evidence through controlled studies.

Perceived occlusion and comfort in receiver-in-the-ear hearing aids.

PURPOSE: This study examined self-perceived occlusion and physical comfort ratings by hearing aid users with receiver-in-the-ear (RITE) hearing aids using different sizes of domes. METHOD: Twenty-one older adults with hearing impairment were fitted with bilateral RITE hearing aids and tested with 3 dome conditions (open, plus, and power domes) and 1 control condition (participants' own aids). Participants ranked self-perceived occlusion across dome size conditions and across recorded and own voice conditions. Participants also ranked their level of physical comfort across dome sizes. RESULTS: Self-perceived occlusion increased as dome size increased, with open domes and participants' own aids resulting in the least amount of occlusion. Although this effect was demonstrated in both recorded and own voice conditions, the effect of dome size was greatest in the own voice test conditions. Perceived physical comfort decreased as dome size increased. CONCLUSIONS: Self-perceived occlusion was greatest for power domes, although average level of occlusion did not exceed moderate occlusion on the rating scale. Perceived physical comfort was highest with the open dome and participants' own aids. Plus and power domes were respectively ranked as more uncomfortable than open domes.