Clinical Importance of Sound-Field Speech Recognition Test for Measurement of Hearing Aid Benefit

Abstract

Background and Objectives Although sound-field speech recognition test is an essential evaluation method to verify the benefit of hearing aids, the aided sound-field speech recognition test has not been used as a standard audiometric protocol. This study investigated whether a traditional measure of unaided speech recognition measured at an individual’s most comfortable level (MCL) can predict aided speech recognition performance and the benefit of hearing aids.Subjects and Method One hundred twenty-one ears (72 adult hearing aid users) with moderate, moderately severe, and severe degrees of hearing loss were tested. The word recognition score (WRS) and sentence recognition score (SRS) were measured at MCLs using earphones (earphone WRS and earphone SRS). From the sound-field speech audiometry, both unaided and aided WRS and SRS were evaluated at an average conversational speech level (at 65 dB SPL) using a loudspeaker (located at 0° azimuth, 1 m). This study determined the differences between earphone scores (at MCL) and aided recognition scores (at 65 dB SPL), which is known as earphone to aided difference (EAD). Also, the hearing aid benefit was simply derived by differences between the unaided and aided scores, both measured at 65 dB SPL.Results The differences between the unaided and aided scores were significantly lower with a higher degree of hearing loss, yet the earphone scores measured at MCLs did not differ across varied hearing loss. More than half of the tested ears had the EAD of greater than ±10%. The ears with a higher degree of hearing loss tended to have +EAD (earphone score>aided score), whereas the ears with less hearing loss showed -EAD (earphone score≤aided score). The earphone score measured at MCLs was not a predominant contributor to predict either aided performance or hearing aid benefit.Conclusion Clinicians should not assume that the unaided speech recognition score measured with earphones at MCL can accurately predict aided speech recognition or the benefit of hearing aids. Instead, it is crucial to directly assess aided sound-field speech recognition performance at a conversational speech level.

Behavioral Evaluation of 3 Smartphone-Based Hearing Aid Apps for Patients with Mild Hearing Loss: An Exploratory Pilot Study

“…All devices were set according to the NAL-NL2 targets prescribed for input levels of 65 dB SPL using the real-ear measurement to represent conversation sound level. 17 , 18 …”

Test-retest Reliability of the Korean Matrix Sentence-in-noise Recognition in Sound-field Testing Condition

“…따라서 청자의 소 음 상황 속 어음인지능력을 측정하고 보청기나 인공와우 등의 청 각보조기기 효과를 정량화하기 위해 다양한 소음 하 문장인지 검사도구의 개발 및 표준화 관련 연구가 진행되었다 (Akeroyd et al, 2015;Killion et al, 2004;Kollmeier et al, 2015;Nilsson et al, 1994). 청각보조기기의 착용효과를 정량화하 기 위해서는 기본청력검사 시 사용하는 헤드폰 혹은 삽입이어폰 대신 라우드스피커를 사용하여 음장청각검사를 시행해야 한다 (Ko & Lee, 2021) et al, 1994), Quick Speech in Noise Test (Killion et al, 2004), Matrix Test (Kollmeier et al, 2015) (Kollmeier et al, 2015). 한국어 Matrix 문장인지검사도구 역시 Akeroyd et al(2015) 이 제안한 권고사항대로 문 장 목 록 을 구 성하고 최적화 (optimization)하였으며 (Yi, 2016), 헤드폰과 Matrix 어음스 펙트럼 소음을 통한 검사 결과의 신뢰도를 입증하였다 (Kim et al, 2017;Kim & Lee, 2018;Kim & Lee, 2021) (Shrout & Fleiss, 1979).…”