Setting: Eight audiology laboratories at Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers across the United States.
Patient: A sample of 360 patients with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss (mean age, 67.2 years; 57% male; 78.6% white).
Intervention: Patients were randomly assigned to 1 of 6 sequences of linear peak clipper (PC), compression limiter (CL), and wide dynamic range compressor (WDRC) hearing aid circuits. All patients wore each of the 3 hearing aids, which were installed in identical casements, for 3 months. Main Outcome Measures: Results of tests of speech recognition, sound quality, and subjective hearing aid benefit, administered at baseline and after each 3-month intervention with and without a hearing aid. At the end of the experiment, patients ranked the 3 hearing aid circuits. |
Results: Each circuit markedly improved speech recognition, with greater improvement observed for soft and conversationally loud speech. All 3 circuits significantly reduced the frequency of problems encountered in verbal communication. Some test results suggested that CL and WDRC circuits provided a significantly better listening experience than PC circuits in word recognition, loudness, overall liking, aversiveness of environmental sounds.
CONCLUSION:
• Each circuit provided significant benefit in quiet and noisy listening situations.
• No dramatic differences among the 3 circuits were found.
• All patients function better with hearing aid usage than without.
• Hearing aid usage greatly improved the quality of life.
These studies clearly indicated the need for medical profession to be aware of hearing loss in the general population. Amplification is highly effective in treating sensorineural hearing loss-VA/NIDCD. |
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