This study will compare different microphone technologies in a noisy environment when the dominant speaker is at the front, back, left, or right side of the listener.
Understanding speech in a noisy environment can be difficult for people with hearing loss even with hearing aids. Hearing aid manufacturers have implanted various methods (i.e., directional micro-phones, noise reduction, noise cancelers) to try to improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) to increase the speech understanding in these difficult listening situations. This study is evaluating different microphone technologies to determine listening effort when speech is to the back or side of the listener in noisy environment.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE
Enrollment
14
Receiver-in-canal (RIC) hearing aids with universal earpieces
Receiver-in-canal (RIC) hearing aids with universal earpieces
Phonak Audiology Research Center
Aurora, Illinois, United States
Speech in Noise Test
A speech in noise test in which participants repeat words which are presented in the presence of background noise. In a 12-speaker array, speech is presented from speakers either on the left side of the participant (-90 degrees) or from behind the participant (180 degrees) while background noise is presented from remaining speakers. Scores are calculated as the number of words correctly repeated and expressed as a percentage. A higher percentage or score is better.
Time frame: Day 1 of study
Subjective Perception of Listening Effort
Following the speech in noise testing in the lab, participants rated their listening effort on a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 = no effort and 10 = a lot of effort. In this case, a lower rating is better as it indicates less perceived listening effort.
Time frame: Day 1 of study
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