title: Subjective ratings of noise-reduction hearing aids.
abstract: The effectiveness of seven commercially available noise-reduction hearing aids was evaluated using subjective ratings of continuous discourse. Subjective scales of listening comfort, speech quality, speech understanding, noise interference, and overall liking were used. Fifteen experienced hearing-aid users participated. Two hearing aids that used amplitude compression (Audiotone A-54 and Telex 363C), two hearing aids that used the Zeta Noise Blocker (two versions of a Maico SP147), and three hearing aids that proportionally attenuated the low-frequencies (Rion HB-69AS, Richards ASE-B, and Siemens 283 ASP) were evaluated. None of the noise-reduction hearing aids significantly altered group performance on any subjective scale. Individually, however, subjects responded differently to different noise-reduction hearing aids, indicating that some noise-reduction hearing aids may help some hearing-impaired individuals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City.
authors.forename: F K
authors.initials: FK
authors.lastname: Kuk
authors.forename: R S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Tyler
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mims
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006310:Hearing Aids; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009622:Noise; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D013065:Speech Intelligibility; D013067:Speech Perception