Improving Amplification Outcomes in Noise by Self-Directed Hearing Aid Fitting

通过自主助听器验配改善噪音放大效果

• 批准号: 8868094
• 负责人: Peggy B Nelson
• 金额: $ 29.75万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-07-01 至 2016-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8868094
• 关键词: Accounting; Address; Algorithms; Audiometry; Cellular Phone; Clinic; Clinical; Collection; Complex; Custom; Data; Databases; Detection; Devices; Effectiveness; Environment; Evaluation; Health; Health Professional; Healthcare; Hearing; Hearing Aids; Hearing Impaired Persons; Individual; Laboratories; Life; Loudness; Measures; Methods; Minnesota; Noise; Outcome; Paired Comparison; Patients; Perception; Performance; Persons; Predisposition; Process; Psychophysics; Recommendation; Research; Restaurants; Speech; Speech Intelligibility; System; Testing; Time; Universities; Validation; Wireless Technology; Work; base; clinical practice; experience; hearing impairment; improved; innovation; multisensory; preference; programs; research study; response; satisfaction; sound; speech recognition; standardize measure; success; virtual

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Hearing aid users experience considerable dissatisfaction with hearing aids in noise. Current audiogram-based methods for setting hearing aid parameters (multifrequency gain and compression) are based on predicted loudness and/or intelligibility of speech in quiet; there is no research-based prescription method for setting parameters for speech in noise. At the same time, there is a growing body of evidence that hearing-impaired persons vary considerably in their ability to understand speech in noise, even when their audiograms are very similar. Given this variance in speech understanding in noise, it is reasonable to expect that the variance across hearing aid users in the optimal hearing settings for noisy environments will be at least as large. If this is the case, then the current methods for setting hearing aid parameters for use in noise are almost certainly producing suboptimal results for many hearing aid users. The advent of wireless control of hearing aids provides an opportunity to address directly questions related to the hearing aid parameter settings that users find most beneficial. Availability of a sophisticated system for simulating different sound environments will make is possible to collect a substantial body of data on hearing aid setting preferences in different sound environments that are still under close experimental control. Work proposed here is a systematic exploration of how preferred hearing aid settings vary across hearing aid users and across sound environments. The following hypotheses will be tested: a. Preferred settings are not the same for quiet settings as they are for noisy settings. b. Variance in preferred settings among hearing aid users is larger for noisy settings than it is for quiet settings. c. Preferred noisy settings can be predicted from clinical nd laboratory measures of speech understanding in noise. d. User-adjusted settings will provide greater perceived user benefit in both quiet and noisy situations than settings derived using current clinical practices for setting hearing aids. e. Some users will obtain benefit from hearing aids that allow at-will user adjustments in the field. Overall, results will improve hearing aid outcomes by providing new methods for setting hearing aids for noisy settings, and for allowing users to set their own hearing aids in daily use. Both outcomes have the potential of increasing satisfaction with hearing aids by increasing the perceived benefit of hearing aid settings made in the clinic and in everyday life.

描述（由申请人提供）：助听器用户对噪音环境中的助听器非常不满意。当前用于设置助听器参数（多频增益和压缩）的基于听力图的方法是基于安静时语音的预测响度和/或清晰度；目前还没有基于研究的处方方法来设置噪声中的语音参数。与此同时，越来越多的证据表明，听力障碍者在噪声中理解语音的能力差异很大，即使他们的听力图非常相似。考虑到噪声中语音理解的这种差异，可以合理地预期助听器用户在噪声环境的最佳听力设置中的差异至少会同样大。如果是这种情况，那么当前设置用于噪声的助听器参数的方法几乎肯定会为许多助听器用户产生次优结果。助听器无线控制的出现提供了一个机会来直接解决与用户认为最有益的助听器参数设置相关的问题。用于模拟不同声音环境的复杂系统的可用性将使得收集有关不同声音环境中助听器设置偏好的大量数据成为可能，这些数据仍在密切的实验控制下。这里提出的工作是对助听器用户和声音环境中偏好的助听器设置如何变化的系统探索。将检验以下假设：安静设置的首选设置与嘈杂设置的首选设置不同。 b.助听器用户在嘈杂环境中偏好设置的差异比安静环境中的差异更大。 c.可以根据噪声中语音理解的临床和实验室测量来预测首选的噪声设置。 d.与使用当前用于设置助听器的临床实践得出的设置相比，用户调整的设置将在安静和嘈杂的情况下为用户提供更大的感知益处。 e.一些用户将从听力中受益 允许用户在现场随意调整的辅助工具。总体而言，研究结果将通过提供在嘈杂环境下设置助听器的新方法以及允许用户在日常使用中设置自己的助听器来改善助听器效果。这两种结果都有可能通过增加在诊所和日常生活中对助听器设置的感知益处来提高对助听器的满意度。