.Signal Transparency of Remote Microphone Technology in Pediatric Bone Conduction Device Users

Area of Science:

• Audiology
• Hearing Science
• Speech-Language Pathology

Background:

• Competing noise significantly impairs speech intelligibility, especially for children with hearing loss in classrooms.
• Remote microphone technology enhances the signal-to-noise ratio for hearing device users.
• Children using bone conduction devices may experience reduced speech intelligibility with indirect remote microphone signal transmission.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of remote microphone technology for improving speech intelligibility in adverse listening conditions for bone conduction device users.
• To investigate the impact of a relay method using adaptive digital remote microphones on speech intelligibility.
• To compare direct versus indirect signal transmission methods for bone conduction device users.

Main Methods:

• Nine children with conductive hearing loss and 12 normal-hearing adults participated.
• Testing involved bone conduction devices with different remote microphone configurations (processor alone, processor + personal remote microphone, processor + personal remote microphone + adaptive digital remote microphone).
• Speech intelligibility in noise was assessed at various signal-to-noise ratios (-10 dB, 0 dB, +5 dB).

Main Results:

• Speech intelligibility significantly improved with a personal remote microphone compared to the bone conduction device alone.
• A relay method using an adaptive digital remote microphone negatively affected signal transparency and provided no hearing improvement.
• Direct streaming methods consistently showed significant gains in speech intelligibility, confirmed by objective signal transparency measurements.

Conclusions:

• Personal remote microphones offer significant benefits for bone conduction device users in noisy environments.
• The relay method with adaptive digital remote microphones is not effective and may hinder speech intelligibility.
• Direct signal transmission is crucial for maximizing speech understanding with bone conduction devices.