Speech recognition according to the length of hearing aid use.
The use of hearing aids can provide plasticity to the hearing system as well as improve speech recognition as time goes by.


OBJECTIVE
To compare the influence of the length of hearing aid use on the benefit obtained with the hearing aids in adults and the elderly, new hearing aids users.


METHODS
Prospective study with 40 individuals with mild to moderate-severe sensorineural hearing loss, gathered in 2 groups: Adults Group--13 people aged between 28 and 59 years old; and Elderly Group--27 people aged between 61 and 78 years old. These people were assessed 14 and 90 days after hearing aid fitting. Sentence recognition threshold in silence and under noise as well as the percentage indexes of sentences recognition in silence and under noise were obtained.


RESULTS
The comparison between values obtained after 14 and 90 days of hearing aid use did not show statistically significant differences. When comparing values between the groups, no statistically significant difference was observed either.


CONCLUSIONS
We did not find influences of the length of hearing aid use and the benefit obtained from using them; the results achieved by adults and the elderly were similar.
Petry
Tiago
T
Santa Maria Federal University.
Santos
Sinéia Neujahr dos
SN
Costa
Maristela Julio
MJ
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006310:Hearing Aids; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013067:Speech Perception; D013069:Speech Reception Threshold Test; D013997:Time Factors