Evaluation of a Frequency-Lowering Algorithm for Adults With High-Frequency Hearing Loss.

Only 10 adults completed the trial, and only 6 completed the speech-in-noise test and 8 completed the everyday questionnaire, so these findings are preliminary and may not apply to other people. All participants were aged 66 years or more and had bilateral high-frequency sensorineural hearing loss, so the study does not show what happens in younger adults, children, or people with unilateral loss. The study was single-blind, not fully blinded, and some participants reported they could hear the Fcomp effect. The length of each condition varied across participants, and a few had slightly longer experience with one condition than the other. Most participants had dead regions, and the study could not determine how dead regions affected benefit from Fcomp. The manufacturer would not recommend Fcomp for P05, P10, and P14, but it was activated for them. The speech-in-noise differences of 10% or more in three participants may have been related to the order of testing. The everyday hearing questionnaire was self-administered rather than completed in an interview format.

No funding or conflict-of-interest declaration appears in the supplied text. The paper describes Fcomp as a Bernafon AG feature, uses Bernafon hearing aids, and states that Figure 2 is based on information provided by Bernafon AG.

Do not conclude that Fcomp improves everyday communication. The group benefit was limited to word-final s and z detection; overall consonant identification, speech in noise, and everyday hearing ratings did not show a benefit, and only 10 participants completed the trial.