Frequency Response Options for People With Low-Frequency Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Six listeners with low-frequency sensorineural hearing loss completed objective and subjective speech recognition tasks while listening to signals spectrally shaped to replicate traditional low-pass amplification and various alternative schemes. The alternative schemes included high-pass, broadband, and K-bass responses. Both objectively and subjectively, listeners achieved greater benefit from the alternative amplification schemes than from low-pass amplification. A case example is presented in which a person with low-frequency hearing loss and a previous history of unsuccessful hearing aid use has been using high-frequency emphasis amplification successfully for the past 6 years. The results call into question the clinical practice of providing amplification only in the region of hearing loss for listeners with low-frequency impairments.