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Cortical Auditory Evoked Potentials Reveal Changes in Audibility with Nonlinear Frequency Compression in Hearing Aids

Teresa Y C Ching1, Vicky W Zhang1, Sanna Hou1

  • 1National Acoustic Laboratories, Sydney, Australia.

Seminars in Hearing
|September 3, 2016
PubMed

Insights

Cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs) can effectively evaluate hearing aid effectiveness in children. This study found CAEPs confirmed audibility improvements with nonlinear frequency compression (NLFC) for specific speech sounds.

Area of Science:

  • Audiology
  • Neuroscience
  • Pediatric Medicine

Background:

  • Newborn hearing screening detects childhood hearing loss early.
  • Established methods for hearing aid fitting exist, but evaluating amplification effectiveness in young children remains challenging.
  • Cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs) offer a promising approach for validating hearing aid fittings.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review the use of CAEPs for hearing aid evaluation.
  • To investigate the effectiveness of nonlinear frequency compression (NLFC) in hearing aids using CAEPs in children.
  • To present a clinical protocol for using CAEPs to validate audibility with amplification.

Main Methods:

  • A study measured CAEPs in 27 children (6.1–16.8 years old) with mild to severe hearing loss.
  • CAEPs were recorded with NLFC both on and off.
  • Aided sensation levels and CAEP detection for speech sounds (/g/, /t/, /s/) were analyzed.

Main Results:

  • No significant difference in aided sensation level or /g/ CAEP detection when NLFC was on versus off.
  • NLFC activation significantly increased aided sensation levels for /t/ and /s/.
  • NLFC activation also increased CAEP detection rates for /t/ and /s/.

Conclusions:

  • CAEPs are a valuable tool for verifying audibility provided by hearing aids in children.
  • NLFC in hearing aids can improve audibility for certain speech sounds, as confirmed by CAEPs.
  • A clinical protocol using CAEPs for audibility validation with amplification is proposed.

Keywords:
Cortical auditory evoked potentialsaudibilitychildrenhearing aidsnonlinear frequency compression

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