Measured and calculated insertion gains in young children

Area of Science:

• Audiology
• Pediatric Otolaryngology
• Hearing Science

Background:

• Sensorineural hearing loss affects children's development.
• Binaural hearing aids are crucial for managing pediatric hearing loss.
• Accurate fitting of hearing aids is essential for optimal outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare measured insertion gain with calculated insertion gain in young children fitted with binaural hearing aids.
• To evaluate the accuracy of the half-gain rule (HGR) and the desired sensation level (DSL) method for pediatric hearing aid fitting.
• To assess the agreement between calculated and measured saturated sound pressure levels using the DSL method.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of 34 children (up to 6 years) with symmetrical sensorineural hearing loss.
• Comparison of measured insertion gain to calculated insertion gain using HGR and DSL prescriptive methods.
• Measurement of saturated sound pressure levels on a 2-cc coupler for DSL calculations.

Main Results:

• Fair agreement was found between measured and calculated insertion gain for both HGR and DSL methods.
• The DSL method showed fair agreement between calculated and measured desired saturated sound pressure levels.
• These findings support the use of these prescriptive methods in pediatric hearing aid fitting.

Conclusions:

• The HGR and DSL methods provide a fair estimation of insertion gain in young children with sensorineural hearing loss.
• The DSL method's predictions for saturated sound pressure levels are reasonably accurate for this population.
• These prescriptive approaches can aid in optimizing binaural hearing aid fittings for children.