Revisiting Auditory Profiling: Can Cognitive Factors Improve the Prediction of Aided Speech-in-Noise Outcome?
Mengfan Wu, Stine Christiansen, Michal Fereczkowski and 1 others
PMID 35942807WHAT IT FOUND
Auditory factors predicted objective speech-in-noise scores, but cognitive tests did not.
Neither auditory nor cognitive measures predicted subjective listening effort. Current hearing aid fitting routines may leave cognitive contributions to speech understanding unexplained.
Key findings
01Auditory abilities were the only significant predictor of objective aided speech recognition in noise.
02Cognitive measures did not predict aided speech-in-noise outcomes in this sample.
03Neither auditory nor cognitive factors predicted the subjective just-follow-conversation outcome.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample size was small, limiting the ability to detect interactions between cognitive and auditory factors. Hearing aids were fitted using manufacturer defaults, which may provide less high-frequency gain than needed to reveal cognitive contributions. The study did not include age as a predictor in the regression models. Cognitive tests were tablet-based, which may not align with standard clinical administration methods.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest. The study received non-U.S. government funding.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that cognition is irrelevant to hearing aid success. The null finding may result from manufacturer-recommended fittings that limit high-frequency gain, which is the condition under which cognitive factors typically predict speech understanding.