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Updated: Jul 27, 2026
09:44
Neuro-rehabilitation Approach for Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss
Published on: January 25, 2016
The occlusion effect created by custom canal hearing aids.
1Department of Speech and Theatre, St. John's University, Jamaica, New York 11439.
The American Journal of Otology
|January 1, 1990
Summary
Custom canal hearing aids can cause an occlusion effect, limiting their use. This study shows bone-conducted speech reception thresholds (SRTs) can effectively measure this effect, differentiating between earmold types.
Area of Science:
- Audiology and Hearing Aid Technology
- Acoustics and Psychoacoustics
Background:
- Growing demand for custom canal hearing aids.
- The occlusion effect, an increased sensitivity to bone-conducted sound, is a significant limitation of these devices.
- A substantial occlusion effect frequently leads to patient rejection of hearing aids.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate a novel method for quantifying the occlusion effect.
- To assess the efficacy of using bone-conducted speech reception thresholds (SRTs) for measuring the occlusion effect.
- To determine if this method can distinguish between occlusion effects caused by different hearing aid shell types.
Main Methods:
- Development and testing of a procedure to measure the occlusion effect using bone-conducted speech reception thresholds (SRTs).
- Comparison of occlusion effect measurements between shell earmolds and custom canal hearing aids.
Main Results:
- The bone-conducted SRT procedure proved sensitive enough to detect and quantify the occlusion effect.
- The method successfully differentiated the magnitude of the occlusion effect produced by shell earmolds versus canal hearing aids.
Conclusions:
- Bone-conducted SRTs offer a viable and sensitive method for measuring the occlusion effect in custom hearing devices.
- This measurement technique can aid in identifying and mitigating factors contributing to hearing aid rejection due to the occlusion effect.
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