Benefit From Directional Microphone Hearing Aids: Objective and Subjective Evaluations

Area of Science:

• Audiology
• Hearing Aid Technology
• Speech Processing

Background:

• Directional (DIR) processing in hearing aids aims to improve speech intelligibility in noisy environments.
• Evaluating DIR benefit requires both objective measures and subjective user feedback.
• Understanding individual factors influencing DIR benefit is crucial for hearing aid fitting.

Purpose of the Study:

• Compare the effectiveness of directional processing in two different hearing aids using objective and subjective methods.
• Assess the correlation between subjective and objective evaluations of DIR benefit.
• Identify individual factors that predict the benefit derived from DIR processing.

Main Methods:

• Twenty-six hearing aid users participated in the study.
• Objective evaluation used a modified Korean Hearing in Noise Test (K-HINT) in omnidirectional (OMNI) and DIR modes.
• Subjective evaluation involved questionnaires on speech quality (SQ) and discomfort in noise (DN).

Main Results:

• DIR processing showed objective benefits in K-HINT results (2.8 and 2.1 dB SNR).
• Subjective evaluations indicated better SQ and DN scores in DIR mode compared to OMNI mode.
• No statistically significant difference was found between the two hearing aids in DIR mode, nor did individual factors significantly influence DIR benefits.

Conclusions:

• DIR benefit is evident in both objective and subjective assessments.
• Subjective DIR benefit did not significantly correlate with objective K-HINT results.
• Predicting individual variations in perceptual DIR benefit remains challenging.