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Speech recognition measures with noise suppression hearing aids using a single-subject experimental design
Ear and Hearing
|December 1, 1989
Summary
Noise suppression hearing aids show promise for improving speech understanding in challenging environments. Single-subject designs offer a valuable approach for evaluating hearing aid performance in real-world listening situations.
Area of Science:
- Audiology
- Hearing Science
- Applied Behavioral Research
Background:
- Quantifying benefits of noise suppression hearing aids has yielded inconsistent results.
- Existing research may be limited by group designs and inferential statistics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate subject performance with two commercial hearing aid noise suppression systems.
- To advocate for single-subject experimental designs in hearing aid research.
Main Methods:
- Employed a single-subject experimental design.
- Evaluated two noise suppression systems: Siemens Automatic Signal Processing (ASP) and Zeta Noise Blocker (ZNB).
- Utilized the low predictability sentence material of the Speech Perception in Noise (SPIN) Test.
Main Results:
- Both Siemens ASP and ZNB systems markedly improved listener scores on the SPIN Test.
- Performance improvements were observed on low predictability sentence material.
Conclusions:
- Noise suppression systems may enhance performance in contextually difficult listening situations.
- Single-subject experimental designs are valuable for applied behavioral research with hearing aids.