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American Journal of Audiology Vol.17 136-146 December 2008. doi:10.1044/1059-0889(2008/07-0012)
© American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
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Long-Term Usage of Modern Signal Processing by Listeners With Severe or Profound Hearing Loss: A Retrospective Survey

Gitte Keidser, David Hartley and Lyndal Carter

National Acoustic Laboratories, Chatswood, Australia

Contact author: Gitte Keidser, National Acoustic Laboratories, 126 Greville Street, Chatswood, NSW 2067, Australia. E-mail: gitte.keidser{at}nal.gov.au.

Purpose: To investigate the long-term benefit of multichannel wide dynamic range compression (WDRC) alone and in combination with directional microphones and noise reduction/speech enhancement for listeners with severe or profound hearing loss.

Method: At the conclusion of a research project, 39 participants with severe or profound hearing loss were fitted with WDRC in one program and WDRC with directional microphones and speech enhancement enabled in a 2nd program. More than 2 years after the 1st participants exited the project, a retrospective survey was conducted to determine the participants' use of, and satisfaction with, the 2 programs.

Results: From the 30 returned questionnaires, it seems that WDRC is used with a high degree of satisfaction in general everyday listening situations. The reported benefit from the addition of a directional microphone and speech enhancement for listening in noisy environments was lower and varied among the users. This variable was significantly correlated with how much the program was used.

Conclusions: The less frequent and more varied use of the program with directional microphones and speech enhancement activated in combination suggests that these features may be best offered in a 2nd listening program for listeners with severe or profound hearing loss.

Key Words: digital hearing aids, hearing loss, surveys






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