The use of self-report measures to examine changes in perception in response to fittings using different signal processing parameters.
Melinda Anderson, Varsha Rallapalli, Tim Schoof and 2 others
PMID 30052097WHAT IT FOUND
Hearing-aid users rated mild signal processing as better than strong processing.
The EAR questionnaire showed this more clearly than the SSQ, especially for speech and quality, not spatial hearing.
Key findings
01Participants gave higher self-reported ratings to the mild hearing-aid processing fitting than to the strong processing fitting.
02The SSQ showed fitting differences for speech and quality scores, but not spatial scores.
03The EAR showed larger score changes across fitting conditions than the SSQ.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
49 participants were consented, but 40 were analysed; some dropped before or after fitting because they could not acclimate to the hearing aid processing or insert the aid, and two were excluded for insufficient wear time. The strong processing settings, especially frequency compression, were beyond typical clinical implementation for these participants, so the perceived difference may be larger than usual clinical adjustments. All participants were new hearing-aid users, so findings may not apply to experienced hearing-aid users. The outcomes were participants' self-reported ratings, not objective measures of speech recognition. Spatial hearing scores did not differ between fittings, so the measures did not show a perceived spatial difference.
Declared interests
The authors report no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that strong signal processing is worse for all hearing-aid users or that these settings should be avoided in practice. The strong settings were beyond typical clinical use, participants were new hearing-aid users, and the study measured self-reported perception rather than objective listening performance.