title: The interaction of hearing loss and level-dependent hearing protection on speech recognition in noise.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the effects of different control settings of level-dependent hearing protectors on speech recognition performance in interaction with hearing loss.
  
  
  METHODS
  Controlled laboratory experiment with two level-dependent devices (Peltor® PowerCom Plus™ and Nacre QuietPro®) in two military noises.
  
  
  METHODS
  Word recognition scores were collected in protected and unprotected conditions for 45 participants grouped into four hearing profile categories ranging from within normal limits to moderate-to-severe hearing loss.
  
  
  RESULTS
  When the level-dependent mode was switched off to simulate conventional hearing protection, there were large differences across hearing profile categories regarding the effects of wearing the devices on speech recognition in noise; participants with normal hearing showed little effect while participants in the most hearing-impaired category showed large decrements in scores compared to unprotected listening. Activating the level-dependent mode of the devices produced large speech recognition benefits over the passive mode at both low and high gain pass-through settings. The category of participants with the most impaired hearing benefitted the most from the level-dependent mode.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings indicate that level-dependent hearing protection circuitry can provide substantial benefits in speech recognition performance in noise, compared to conventional passive protection, for individuals covering a wide range of hearing losses.
authors.affiliation: Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Program, University of Ottawa , Ottawa, Ontario , Canada.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Giguère
authors.forename: Chantal
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Laroche
authors.forename: Véronique
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vaillancourt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004430:Ear Protective Devices / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D034381:Hearing Loss; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009622:Noise; D013067:Speech Perception; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Hearing loss; hearing protection; noise; speech recognition