title: Selecting Appropriate Tests to Assess the Benefits of Bilateral Amplification With Hearing Aids.
abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of bilateral hearing aids (HA) in subjects with mild and moderate-to-severe hearing loss. This study was designed as a within-subject feasibility study. Bilateral HA use was assessed using different laboratory tests on speech reception, listening effort, noise tolerance, and localization. All data were evaluated with bilateral and unilateral HA fittings. Forty experienced bilateral HA users were included with hearing impairment ranging from mild to moderate-to-severe. Subjects were stratified into two groups based on the degree of hearing loss. Speech reception in noise, listening effort, and localization tests showed a bilateral benefit for the moderate-to-severely hearing-impaired subjects. A bilateral benefit was also observed for listening effort in the mildly hearing-impaired group. The assessment of listening effort shows promise as a measure of bilateral HA benefit for mild hearing impairment. Localization and speech reception in noise tests provide additional value for larger losses. The next step is to compare experienced unilateral with bilateral HA users.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Experimental Audiology, Academic Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands jvanschoonhoven@amc.nl.
authors.forename: Jelmer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: van Schoonhoven
authors.affiliation: Hörzentrum Oldenburg GmbH, Oldenburg, Germany Cluster of Excellence Hearing4all, Oldenburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schulte
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Experimental Audiology, Academic Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Monique
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boymans
authors.affiliation: Hörzentrum Oldenburg GmbH, Oldenburg, Germany Cluster of Excellence Hearing4all, Oldenburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Kirsten C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Wagener
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Experimental Audiology, Academic Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Wouter A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Dreschler
authors.affiliation: Hörzentrum Oldenburg GmbH, Oldenburg, Germany Cluster of Excellence Hearing4all, Oldenburg, Germany Medizinische Physik, Carl-von-Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Birger
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kollmeier
mesh_terms: D006310:Hearing Aids; D034381:Hearing Loss; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural; D006801:Humans; D009622:Noise; D013017:Sound Localization; D013067:Speech Perception
keywords: bilateral hearing aids; hearing aids; hearing loss; listening effort; psychoacoustics; sound detection; sound localization; speech intelligibility in noise