Abstract
Received August 13, 2015 Revised October 1, 2015 Accepted October 5, 2015 Address for correspondence Il Joon Moon, MD, PhD Department of OtorhinolaryngologyHead & Neck Surgery, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, 81 Irwon-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul 06351, Korea Tel +82-2-3410-3579 Fax +82-2-3410-3879 E-mail moonij@skku.edu Background and ObjectivesZZConsonants are uttered in the high frequency range in speech to bring out understanding of our language. As consonants convey most of the word information, listeners with high-frequency hearing loss find it hard to understand speech. Non-linear frequency compression (NLFC) technology compresses and moves higher frequencies into a lower frequency region where better residual hearing is present. The purpose of this study was to evaluate clinical effectiveness of NLFC technology in patients with high-frequency hearing loss. Subjects and MethodZZTwelve ears representing patients with sloping, high-frequency sensorineural hearing loss were involved in this study. Pure-tone audiometry and Threshold Equalizing Noise Test were conducted initially in all subjects. The subjects were tested in the counter-balanced order, and had two months of everyday experience with NLFC on/off before testing took place. A resting period intervened the two phases. Performance was repeatedly evaluated with Sound Field Audiometry, Word Recognition Score, Reception Threshold for Sentences and Korean version of International Outcome Inventory for Hearing Aids. ResultsZZCochlear dead region was detected on 4 kHz of both ears in only one subject. Each subject showed diverse performance and satisfaction with active NLFC condition. Typically, audibility of high-frequency pure-tones improved with NLFC-on condition. However, speech perception both in quiet and noise was not much improved when compared with NLFC-off condition. ConclusionZZThe NLFC technology could improve audibility in high-frequency, but failed to demonstrate benefits regarding speech perception. Further research is needed to validate the effectiveness of the NLFC technology especially in terms of speech intelligibility. Korean J Otorhinolaryngol-Head Neck Surg 2016;59(2):96-103
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