Description and validation of an LDL procedure designed to select SSPL90

Area of Science:

• Audiology
• Hearing Aid Technology
• Psychoacoustics

Background:

• Selecting appropriate hearing aid maximum output (SSPL90) is crucial for patient comfort and audibility.
• Existing methods for determining SSPL90 may lack practicality or direct applicability to hearing aid fitting.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe a novel procedure for measuring loudness discomfort levels (LDLs).
• To utilize LDL measurements for the practical selection of SSPL90 characteristics in hearing aids.

Main Methods:

• Participants were seated in a sound field wearing a high-output hearing aid with a known 2 cm3 coupler gain.
• Frequency-specific signals were presented, and participants used loudness category descriptors to rate perceived loudness.
• Loudness discomfort levels (LDLs) were defined in terms of sound pressure level (SPL) within a 2 cm3 coupler.

Main Results:

• The described procedure allows for the practical selection of SSPL90 directly from hearing aid specification sheets.
• Experiments demonstrated the stability of LDL measurements over time.
• Validation confirmed the effectiveness of the SSPL90 selection based on the new LDL measurement procedure.

Conclusions:

• The new procedure offers a practical and validated method for selecting hearing aid SSPL90.
• This approach enhances the precision and ease of hearing aid fitting by directly linking LDLs to SSPL90 selection.
• The findings support the use of coupler-based LDL measurements for optimizing hearing aid performance.