Browsing by Subject "Hearing loss"

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    Effects of noise on fast mapping and word learning scores in preschool children with and without hearing loss.
    (2010-01) Blaiser, Kristina M.
    This study examines the fast mapping and word learning abilities of three- to five-year old children with and without hearing loss, in quiet and noise conditions. Nineteen children with hearing loss (HL) and 17 normal hearing peers (NH) participated in this study. Children were introduced to eight novel words in each condition. Children's ability to `fast map' (i.e., comprehend or produce new words after minimal experience) was measured in the first session (Time 1). `Word learning' (the comprehension or production of previously unfamiliar words following additional exposures) was measured following three individual training sessions (i.e., Time 2). Results indicated that children in the HL group performed similarly to NH peers on fast mapping and word learning measures in quiet. In noise, the HL group performed significantly poorer at the fast mapping time point than the NH group. However, at Time 2 there were no significant between-group differences in the noise condition. A series of correlation and regression analyses was used to investigate variables associated with fast mapping and novel word learning in quiet and noise conditions. Age was significantly correlated to fast mapping and word learning performance in quiet and noise in the NH group, but not in the HL group. Age fit with hearing aids was the only traditional hearing loss factor that was correlated with fast mapping performance in noise for the HL group. Results showed that age was a significant predictor of fast mapping performance in noise for the NH group, but not the HL group. Word learning in quiet was a significant predictor for word learning in noise for the NH group, fast mapping in noise was a significant predictor for the HL group. In addition, performance in quiet significantly predicted fast mapping and word learning scores in noise for the NH group; however, there was no significant correlation between performance in quiet and noise for the HL group.
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    Self-adjustment of Hearing Aid Amplification: Listener Preferences and Speech Recognition Performance
    (2019-07) Perry, Trevor
    Self-adjustment of amplification parameters is a potential method for improving satisfaction with hearing aids, particularly in noisy environments. People with mild-to-moderate hearing loss adjusted gain parameters in quiet and in several types of noise by using a simple touchscreen interface to control a research device which emulated the basic functionality of a digital hearing aid in real time. Results of self-adjustment indicated reliable individual preferences but a great deal of between-listener variability, indicating that people have stable preferences for amplification and are able to select preferred parameters consistently. The large individual differences suggest that preferred gain configurations can differ greatly from prescriptive settings in both quiet and in noise and underscore the need for an efficient method of customizing amplification parameters beyond prescribed settings. Audiological listener factors such as age, hearing loss, and experience using hearing aids, predicted little of the between-listener variability. It is unlikely that modifications to prescriptive fitting formulae based on the factors examined here would result in amplification parameters that are similar to user-customized settings. Most self-adjustments were completed in only a minute or two, demonstrating that self-adjustment is a rapid and efficient method for matching hearing aid output to preferred settings. When self-adjustments were made with speech presented at average conversational levels, gain adjustments did not strongly affect speech recognition within the range of signal-to-noise ratios tested. For speech at a lower presentation level, preferences for amplification were related to speech recognition performance, suggesting that listeners include their subjective sense of speech clarity among their criteria for selecting amplification parameters during self-adjustment. Self-adjusted amplification was overwhelmingly rated as satisfactory or very satisfactory and as producing a comfortable loudness. Taken together, the results of these experiments support the conclusion that for people with mild-to-moderate hearing loss, self-adjustment is likely to produce satisfactory and comfortable amplification that provides speech recognition comparable to that of hearing aids fit according to current clinical best practices.