Evaluation of a research hearing aid for audiological testing

Area of Science:

• Audiology and Hearing Science
• Biomedical Engineering
• Open-Source Technology in Healthcare

Background:

• Open-source hearing aid (HA) research tools facilitate innovation in audiological concepts.
• Evaluating new research hearing aids (RHA) against commercial hearing aids (CHA) is crucial for validating their performance.
• Assessing novel fitting strategies, such as non-individualized gain presets, is essential for improving HA accessibility.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the aided outcome of a wearable research HA (RHA) against a high-end commercial HA (CHA).
• To evaluate a hearing aid fitting approach using non-individualized gain presets with the RHA.
• To assess the suitability of the RHA for audiological research.

Main Methods:

• A randomized repeated-measures design was employed.
• Participants completed speech recognition and speech quality assessments under unaided and aided conditions (RHA and CHA).
• Two RHA fitting approaches were compared: a preset approach and a best-practice individualized approach.

Main Results:

• The RHA and CHA demonstrated similar audibility, speech recognition (in quiet and noise), and speech quality ratings.
• The preset fitting approach with the RHA resulted in reduced audibility compared to the best-practice approach.
• Speech recognition in quiet and noise was comparable between the preset and best-practice approaches using the RHA.

Conclusions:

• The wearable research HA (RHA) is suitable for audiological research and testing new concepts.
• Preset-based fitting approaches show potential, offering comparable speech recognition to individualized methods despite differences in audibility.
• Open-source tools like the RHA can advance hearing aid research and development.