Abstract
Wireless synchronization of the digital signal processing (DSP) features between two hearing aids in a bilateral hearing aid fitting is a fairly new technology. This technology is expected to preserve the differences in time and intensity between the two ears by co-ordinating the bilateral DSP features such as multichannel compression, noise reduction, and adaptive directionality. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the benefits of wireless communication as implemented in two commercially available hearing aids. More specifically, this study measured speech intelligibility and sound localization abilities of normal hearing and hearing impaired listeners using bilateral hearing aids with wireless synchronization of multichannel Wide Dynamic Range Compression (WDRC). Twenty subjects participated; 8 had normal hearing and 12 had bilaterally symmetrical sensorineural hearing loss. Each individual completed the Hearing in Noise Test (HINT) and a sound localization test with two types of stimuli. No specific benefit from wireless WDRC synchronization was observed for the HINT; however, hearing impaired listeners had better localization with the wireless synchronization. Binaural wireless technology in hearing aids may improve localization abilities although the possible effect appears to be small at the initial fitting. With adaptation, the hearing aids with synchronized signal processing may lead to an improvement in localization and speech intelligibility. Further research is required to demonstrate the effect of adaptation to the hearing aids with synchronized signal processing on different aspects of auditory performance.
Highlights
Difficulty in understanding speech in noisy/reverberant backgrounds is the main complaint of individuals with sensorineural hearing loss
Binaural hearing enhances speech understanding in noise because of several factors such as head diffraction, which causes the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) to be greater at one ear than the other when noise and target speech arrive from different directions; binaural squelch, which refers to the role of the central auditory system in taking advantage of the amplitude and timing differences [interaural level differences (ILDs), and interaural time differences (ITDs), respectively] of speech and noise arriving at each ear; and binaural redundancy, which refers to the ability of the central auditory system to combine the signals arriving at the two ears.[1]
The current study aimed to address this gap by examining the c effect of wireless multichannel WDRC synchronization in bilateral hearing aid (HA) r on two aspects of binaural hearing: sound localization and speech intele ligibility in noise
Summary
Difficulty in understanding speech in noisy/reverberant backgrounds is the main complaint of individuals with sensorineural hearing loss. Amongst the benefits of binaural hearing is the ability to accurately locate different sounds and improve speech intelligibility in noisy environments.[1] Binaural hearing enhances speech understanding in noise because of several factors such as head diffraction, which causes the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) to be greater at one ear than the other when noise and target speech arrive from different directions; binaural squelch, which refers to the role of the central auditory system in taking advantage of the amplitude and timing differences [interaural level differences (ILDs), and interaural time differences (ITDs), respectively] of speech and noise arriving at each ear; and binaural redundancy, which refers to the ability of the central auditory system to combine the signals arriving at the two ears.[1] There is evidence, at least in a laboratory setting, that hearing impaired listeners wearing two hearing aids (i.e. bilateral amplification) can extract some benefit from binaural hearing.[2,3] It is not surprising that the rate of bilateral fitting is increasing[4] and, together with advances in digital signal processing (DSP) features such as adaptive.
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