The present study will confirm the clinical benefit of 2 different released hearing aid models for speech understanding (in noise). Participants with mild to severe hearing impairment will be fit binaurally with Unitron hearing aids and will perform a standardized speech discrimination test in noise with and without hearing aids.
Each participant will be asked to wear a set of BTE and RIC hearing aids and complete the Hearing in Noise Test (HINT) aided and unaided. The investigators will be assessing their speech intelligibility in noise for each condition during the same appointment to determine the SNR50 (the Signal-to-Noise ratio necessary for a participant to recognize the speech material correctly 50 percent of the time).
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NA
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
25
Participants will complete testing aided and unaided. The hearing aids have been fit to compensate for their hearing loss.
Unitron Hearing
Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
Speech Intelligibility Test in Noise
Sentences are presented through a speaker in front of the participant's head. Background noise is presented through other seven speakers arranged around the participant. The senteces are presented at varying levels (both louder and softer) than the fixed level of the noise. The SNR50 is the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) expressed in decibels (dB) at which the participant can repeat 50% of the words correctly. For example, an SNR50 of +3 means that the participant repeated 50% of the words back correctly when the sentences were presented at a level that was 3dB louder than the noise. Lower scores indicate better performance.
Time frame: 2 hours appointment
This platform is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional.