[Acclimatization: speech recognition in hearing aid users].
BACKGROUND
acclimatization is the period that succeeds the fitting of hearing aids, when a progressive improvement of the hearing and speech recognition abilities is observed due to the new speech cues that are available to the hearing aid user.


OBJECTIVE
to verify acclimatization after the fitting of hearing aids through objective (speech tests) and subjective (Questionnaire) evaluations.


METHODS
16 hearing impaired individuals were evaluated on the first day of hearing aid fitting and were monthly reassessed for three months. In all three months the following speech tests were used: PISR - percentage index of speech recognition through monosyllabic words and SRT--speech recognition threshold through sentences, determining the speech/ noise ratio (S/N). The International Outcome Inventory of Hearing Aid (IOI-HA) was also applied in the first and third months after the hearing aids were fitted.


RESULTS
the comparison between the first day, first, second and third months after the hearing aids were fitted revealed a statistically significant improvement (p<0.001) between the results, not only for the PISR but also for the S/N ratio. No statistically significant difference was found for the results obtained through the questionnaire applied in the first and third months.


CONCLUSIONS
the objective evaluation, using speech recognition tests, presents better results in the months following the hearing aids fitting indicating a progressive improvement in the speech abilities from the first month onwards. The subjective evaluation does not reveal an improvement when comparing the first and third moths after the hearing aids were fitted.
Prates
Letícia Pimenta Costa Spyer
LP
Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Escola Paulista de Medicina. lepcosta@uai.com.br
Iório
Maria Cecília Martinelli
MC
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000502:physiology*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006310:Hearing Aids / Q000592:standards*; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D017755:Prosthesis Fitting; D013063:Speech Discrimination Tests; D013067:Speech Perception; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors