Influence of Three Auditory Profiles on Aided Speech Perception in Different Noise Scenarios.
Mengfan Wu, Oscar M Cañete, Jesper Hvass Schmidt and 2 others
PMID 34184946WHAT IT FOUND
Hearing aid users with severe auditory deficits performed worse in noise when fitted with a specific hearing aid brand that provided less gain.
Users with milder deficits showed less variation between brands. This suggests fitting choices matter most for patients with complex hearing loss.
Key findings
01Hearing aid users classified as Profile C (severe deficits) had significantly poorer speech recognition scores when using HA3 compared to HA1 or HA2.
02There was no significant difference in speech recognition scores between Profile A and Profile B users, and no effect of hearing aid brand was found for the conversation-following task.
03All participants performed worse in noise that resembled speech (intelligible dialogues) compared to stationary noise, regardless of their auditory profile.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study had a small sample size (31 hearing aid users), which limits the generalizability of the findings. Profile D listeners were excluded due to low recruitment numbers, so the results do not apply to this specific auditory profile. The hearing aids were tested using manufacturer default settings without individualized fine-tuning, which may not reflect optimal clinical practice. The study used only three hearing aid models; results may differ with other devices or fitting algorithms. The conversation following task showed large individual variability, making it difficult to detect subtle differences between profiles.
Declared interests
The study was funded by Innovation Fund Denmark and by hearing aid manufacturers GN Hearing, Oticon, and WS Audiology. The authors declared no conflicts of interest, but the funding source includes companies that produce the devices tested.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that hearing aid brand choice determines speech-in-noise outcomes for all patients. The significant negative effect of HA3 was specific to users with severe auditory deficits (Profile C); users with milder deficits (Profile A) showed less variation between devices.