Observations on the relations among occlusion effect, compliance, and vent size.
In a clinical experiment, it was found that there is a high correlation between the compliance measured by tympanometry and the minimum size of the earmold vent, which just solves the client's occlusion problem related to his/her own voice when using a hearing aid. For ears with sensorineural hearing losses, compliance explained 59 percent of the variation in vent size, whereas the average low-frequency hearing loss explained as little as 0.3 percent. In a laboratory experiment, the objective occlusion effect measured with the participants' own voices showed a similar relationship with compliance. Whereas the former relationship between compliance and vent size may be explained by a simple model, the latter relationship turns out to be the opposite of what a first-order model predicts. Hence, compliance must be indicative of another aspect of the occlusion mechanism, which has a more profound influence on the observed occlusion effect than compliance itself.
Carle
Roberto
R
Audiovox, Livorno, Italy.
Laugesen
Søren
S
Nielsen
Claus
C
D000158:Acoustic Impedance Tests; D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000295:instrumentation; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D001309:Auditory Threshold / Q000502:physiology; D001844:Bone Conduction; D003187:Compliance; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D006310:Hearing Aids / Q000592:standards*; D006312:Hearing Loss, Bilateral / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008962:Models, Theoretical