Assessing binaural hearing: results using the speech, spatial and qualities of hearing scale.
BACKGROUND
Binaural hearing is important for hearing target signals against competing ones, and for spatial hearing.


OBJECTIVE
Survey of results using the Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing scale (SSQ), a measure emphasizing contexts that rely on binaural hearing ability. Results show that self-rating can identify binaural hearing influences and benefits. RESEARCH DESIGNS: Retrospective design compared fitting with one versus two hearing aids. Prospective design compared one versus two cochlear implants. Brief descriptions are made of studies using other comparative designs.


METHODS
There were 69 new adult-age clients of an audiology clinic with unilateral hearing aid fittings, 34 with bilateral (and n = 63 in a pre-aided sample); there were 14 people with one cochlear implant (CI), 18 with two; in both CI groups, age ranged from 20 to 90 yr.


METHODS
The data are scores on the 49 items comprising the SSQ, grouped into 10 "pragmatic" subscales, analyzed using t-tests and ANOVA.


RESULTS
Two aids offer advantage for challenging conditions (e.g., multistream signal monitoring), for dynamic spatial hearing, and in reducing listening effort. These outcomes are observable, though less distinctly, in one versus two implants. Overall advantage of two implants is very clear in a 20-59-yr-old cohort of patients. Recent application and development of the SSQ indicates sensitivity to subtle differences in abilities.


CONCLUSIONS
Self-report data are valuable in revealing the everyday listening domains in which improvement in binaural hearing function provides beneficial outcomes.
School of Behavioural, Cognitive and Social Sciences, University of New England Armidale, NSW, Australia. wnoble@une.edu.au
William
W
Noble
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006310:Hearing Aids; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D006320:Hearing Tests; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009622:Noise; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012647:Self-Assessment; D013067:Speech Perception; D055815:Young Adult