Development of a new method for deriving initial fittings for hearing aids with multi-channel compression: CAMEQ2-HF

Moore et al (1999b) described a procedure, CAMEQ, for the initial fitting of multi-channel compression hearing aids. The procedure was derived using a model of loudness perception for impaired hearing. We describe here the development of a new fitting method, CAMEQ2-HF, which differs from CAMEQ in the following ways: (1) CAMEQ2-HF gives recommended gains for centre frequencies up to 10 kHz, whereas the upper limit for CAMEQ is 6 kHz; (2) CAMEQ is based on the assumption that the hearing aid user faces the person they wish to hear and uses a free-field-to-eardrum transfer function for frontal incidence. CAMEQ2-HF is based on the assumption that the user may wish to hear sounds from many directions, and uses a diffuse-field-to-eardrum transfer function; (3) CAMEQ2-HF is based on an improved loudness model for impaired hearing; (4) CAMEQ2-HF is based on recent wideband measurements of the average spectrum of speech.