La transposición frecuencial. Incidencia en las habilidades de identificación y el reconocimiento auditivo en jóvenes con pérdidas auditivas profundas

Abstract

Based on the need to enhance perception of more high-pitched acoustic features of speech phonemes, we present this study on the changes observed in a group of young people with severe-profound hearing impairment after trialling the frequency transposition technology of the Mind440-19 hearing aid, using the Audibility Extender. The sample of the study was a group of 7young people with ages ranging from 13 to 25years, divided into two groups based on their audiometric configuration. The first group consisted of 4subjects with a mean pure tone of 99dB. The second group had more profound hearing loss, with a mean pure tone of 105dB in both ears.Frequency transposition benefit was measured through a test battery including Ling's test, an identification test and a word recognition test. Tests were administered after 4, 8, and 12weeks of hearing aid use, and compared with results from the previous hearing aids used by the participants, with their Audibility Extender off.