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J Am Acad Audiol 2000; 11(09): 475-483
DOI: 10.1055/s-0042-1748137
Original Article

Speech Recognition Ability in Noise and Its Relationship to Perceived Hearing Aid Benefit

Mary T. Cord
Army Audiology and Speech Center, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, DC
,
Marjorie R. Leek
Army Audiology and Speech Center, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, DC
,
Brian E. Walden
Army Audiology and Speech Center, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, DC
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Abstract

Hearing-impaired listeners with similar hearing losses may differ widely in their ability to understand speech in noise. Such individual susceptibility to noise may explain why patients obtain varying degrees of benefit from hearing aids. The chief purpose of this study was to determine if adaptive measures of unaided speech recognition in noise were related to hearing aid benefit. Additionally, the relationship between perceived hearing handicap and benefit from amplification was explored. Before being fit with hearing aids, 47 new hearing aid users completed a self-assessment measure of hearing handicap Then, unaided speech recognition ability was measured in quiet and in noise. Three months later, subjects completed a hearing aid benefit questionnaire. A weak relationship was observed between perceived hearing handicap and hearing aid benefit. There were no significant relationships between speech-in-noise measures and hearing aid benefit, suggesting that speech recognition ability in noise is not a major determinant of the benefit derived from amplification.

Abbreviations: CPHI = Communication Profile for the Hearing Impaired, HAPI = Hearing Aid Performance Inventory, HINT = Hearing in Noise Test, NAL-R = National Acoustic Laboratories-Revised procedure, S/N = signal-to-noise ratio, SRT = speech recognition threshold

Key Words

Hearing aid benefit - hearing aids - hearing handicap - noise - speech recognition


Publication History

Article published online:
14 April 2022

© 2000. American Academy of Audiology. This article is published by Thieme.

Thieme Medical Publishers, Inc.
333 Seventh Avenue, 18th Floor, New York, NY 10001, USA

 

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