Preferred hearing aid gain in everyday use after prescriptive fitting.
The insertion gain preferred by a group of 26 moderately hearing-impaired, elderly hearing-aid users was investigated in everyday listening situations. The subjects used monaural behind-the-ear aids, carefully fitted according to a prescription formula of the half-gain type, validated and used at National Acoustic Laboratories, Australia. The fitting was checked with real-ear measurements of insertion gain and reviewed at one or more follow-up sessions. The subjects were strictly instructed to try the recommended volume control setting before reporting which setting they preferred. The prescription significantly over-estimated preferred gain by about 7 dB. No correlation could be detected between prescribed versus preferred gain differences and the amount of previous hearing-aid use or the degree of subjective hearing problems.
Department of Audiology, Sahlgren's Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden.
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A
Leijon
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Lindkvist
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A
Ringdahl
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B
Israelsson
D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006310:Hearing Aids; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055656:Prescriptions; D013016:Sound