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Published on: October 29, 2018
Evaluation method for hearing aid fitting under reverberation: comparison between monaural and binaural hearing aids
Kimio Shiraishi1, Megumi Inoue, Kiyoshi Yonemoto
1Department of Acoustic Design, Faculty of Design, Kyushu University, 4-9-1 Shio-baru, Minami-ku, Fukuoka 815-8540, Japan. kimio@design.kyushu-u.ac.jp
Journal of Physiological Anthropology and Applied Human Science
|December 16, 2004
Summary
Hearing aid users experience difficulty hearing in reverberant environments. This study validates using speech materials with varying reverberation times to assess listening performance in hearing-impaired individuals.
Area of Science:
- Audiology
- Acoustics
Background:
- Hearing aid users often report challenges with speech intelligibility in reverberant settings.
- Current hearing aid fitting methods lack objective measures for reverberation-induced listening difficulties.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate speech materials with controlled reverberation times for assessing hearing aid performance.
- To evaluate the impact of different reverberation levels on speech understanding in hearing-impaired individuals.
Main Methods:
- Speech materials were synthesized with reverberation times of 0 s, 1.01 s, and 2.02 s to simulate varying acoustic environments.
- Listening tests were conducted with hearing-impaired and normal-hearing participants in both a soundproof booth and a real-world classroom setting.
Main Results:
- Hearing-impaired individuals using monaural and binaural hearing aids demonstrated significantly reduced listening scores with speech material exhibiting a 2.02 s reverberation time.
- Performance decrements were consistent across laboratory and classroom environments, particularly in the most reverberant condition.
Conclusions:
- Speech materials with adjustable reverberation times are effective tools for predicting listening difficulties in hearing aid users.
- This methodology can aid in optimizing hearing aid fitting for improved performance in acoustically challenging environments.
