The Use of Mild-Gain Hearing Aids for Adults with Hearing Difficulties
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Date
2016-05
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
An auditory processing disorder (APD) has been defined as a perceptual issue affecting the way in which the central auditory nervous system understands and makes use of auditory information [American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), 2005; American Academy of Audiology (AAA), 2010]. The primary complaint of individuals with APD is difficulty understanding speech in background noise, often in the presence of normal pure tone thresholds (Whitelaw, 2008). Adults with subject listening complaints consistent with APD have been referred to as having ‘hearing difficulties’ (HD) (Tremblay et al., 2015). Recent research has shown improvements in speech-in-noise performance for children with APD (Kuk et al., 2008) and for adults with subjective HD (Moore, 2015) when using mild-gain hearing aids. The purpose of this study was to examine the benefit of a four-week trial with mild-gain hearing aids for adults with HD. Seven adults with HD and ten control adults (18-59 years) participated. All participants had normal pure tone thresholds. Inclusion criteria for HD participants included: ≥ 20 on the Hearing Handicap Inventory for Adults (HHIA; Newman et al., 1990), and abnormal performance on one or more tests in an auditory processing test battery. Subjective auditory processing abilities were measured using the Auditory Processing Questionnaire (APQ). Speech-in-noise performance was measured using the Revised-Speech Perception in Noise test (R-SPIN; Bilger et al., 1984). Once enrolled, the HD participants were seen for two additional sessions: 1) baseline R-SPIN testing and hearing aid fitting, and 2) post-trial aided R-SPIN testing, HHIA and APQ. Participants were fitted with receiver-in-the-canal hearing aids with 5-10 dB of gain for low to moderate inputs, and no gain for high inputs. The hearing aids were programmed with noise-reduction and directional microphones engaged. Control participants completed the HHIA, APQ and R-SPIN. Results revealed a significant difference between subjective auditory processing abilities (APQ), hearing handicap (HHIA) and speech-perception-in-noise (R-SPIN) performance between the control and HD groups. Results also revealed a significant difference between HD unaided and HD aided R-SPIN testing. Future research should include: a larger sample size, assessing other factors in HD individuals (i.e. listening effort, working memory, attention etc.) and a comparison of other treatment options to the mild-gain hearing aids (i.e. FM systems, auditory training etc).
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Keywords
Auditory Processing Disorder, Hearing Difficulties, Mild-gain hearing aids, APD treatment, obscure auditory dysfunction