ABSTRACT
Audiologists may fit hearing aids using real-ear aided response (REAR) values predicted by manufacturer's fitting software, rather than actual measured REARs. This study examined how well one manufacturer's software was able to predict REARs for a DSP behind-the-ear product in 41 adults (N = 79 ears) under four conditions (two hearing loss configurations and two inputs). Results showed that for all ears tested, measured REAR values were significantly different from predicted for most of the audiometric frequencies for all four test conditions. Discrepancies between measured and predicted REAR values were greater in males' ears than females'. Few ears' REAR values (< or = 12%) were judged to be clinically similar to predicted. Results suggest audiologists should consider using individual real-ear measures in adult hearing aid fittings until manufacturer software is shown to accurately predict real-ear hearing aid performance.
Subject(s)
Hearing Aids , Hearing Loss, Sensorineural/rehabilitation , Speech Perception , Adult , Analysis of Variance , Ear Canal/physiology , Equipment Design , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Prosthesis Fitting , Speech Reception Threshold Test , Treatment OutcomeABSTRACT
The Synthetic Sentence Identification (SSI) test has been used extensively in investigations of reduced speech understanding skills in older adults. In this study the SSI test was altered by adding noise to the competing message and by administering practice lists and equivalent test lists, as well as versions of the test that have 4- and 12-s interstimulus intervals (ISIs), along with the standard 8-s ISI. The purpose was to determine the effect of these alterations on performance in a group of older adults with average pure-tone average 2 values less than 33 dB HL. Performance changed as a function of the ISI, with less rollover occurring for the 4-s ISI condition than the other 2 ISIs.