Individual differences in speech recognition ability: implications for hearing aid selection

Hearing-impaired listeners with similar audiometric configurations often demonstrate varying abilities to understand speech in the presence of noise and/or reverberation. To date, however, it is unclear which auditory mechanisms are responsible for these perceptual deficits. This lack of information is unfortunate, as individual susceptibility to noise and reverberation may explain why hearing-impaired listeners receive varying degrees of benefit from rehabilitative strategies. The present discussion will examine: (1) individual speech recognition susceptibility to noise and reverberation in hearing-impaired listeners and (2) auditory and cognitive hypotheses to explain individual differences in speech recognition performance. Theoretical and clinical implications for hearing aid selection procedures will be discussed.