Consistency of Hearing Aid Setting Preference in Simulated Real-WorldEnvironments: Implications for Trainable Hearing Aids

摘要

Trainable hearing aids let users fine-tune their hearing aid settings in theirown listening environment: Based on consistent user-adjustments and informationabout the acoustic environment, the trainable aids will changeenvironment-specific settings to the user’s preference. A requirement foreffective fine-tuning is consistency of preference for similar settings insimilar environments. The aim of this study was to evaluate consistency ofpreference for settings differing in intensity, gain-frequency slope, anddirectionality when listening in simulated real-world environments and todetermine if participants with more consistent preferences could be identifiedbased on profile measures. A total of 52 adults (63–88 years) with hearingvarying from normal to a moderate sensorineural hearing loss selected theirpreferred setting from pairs differing in intensity (3 or 6 dB), gain-frequencyslope (±1.3 or ± 2.7 dB/octave), or directionality (omnidirectional vs.cardioid) in four simulated real-world environments: traffic noise, a monologuein traffic noise at 5 dB signal-to-noise ratio, and a dialogue in café noise at5 and at 0 dB signal-to-noise ratio. Forced-choice comparisons were made 10times for each combination of pairs of settings and environment. Participantsalso completed nine psychoacoustic, cognitive, and personality measures.Consistency of preference, defined by a setting preferred at least 9 out of 10times, varied across participants. More participants obtained consistentpreferences for larger differences between settings and less difficultenvironments. The profile measures did not predict consistency of preference.Trainable aid users could benefit from counselling to ensure realisticexpectations for particular adjustments and listening situations.