Preference Comparisons for Algorithms to Hear Speech
Study Details
Study Description
Brief Summary
Twenty people with hearing impairment will be tested and fitted binaurally with hearing aids. During a real-world listening situation, each participant will be asked to compare one program with a novel algorithm to one with a standard microphone configuration. They will provide ratings on a range of outcome measures including overall preference and awareness of background noise. Overall and specific preferences for the different programs/algorithms will be determined by their subjective responses to determine if there is a significant difference between the two programs.
| Condition or Disease | Intervention/Treatment | Phase |
|---|---|---|
|
N/A |
Detailed Description
People with hearing loss/impairment often have difficulty not only hearing certain sounds (e.g., environmental and speech sounds) but also listening in certain situations such as those where noise competes with speech. This is a common situation in people's real life conversations and one which different hearing instrument algorithms could facilitate.
This study will investigate the listening preferences of people with hearing impairment while wearing hearing aids. They will listen to speech in a situation which is commonly reported as difficult for people who wear hearing aids. Participants will wear one set of hearing aids set to their hearing loss with two programs providing these different algorithms. By having the participants toggle (with a remote control) back and forth between algorithms designed for these real-life difficult listening situations, they can rate their preferences and listening experiences.
Of particular interest, in addition to overall preference, are ratings of the background noise, listening effort and annoyance of artefacts.
Study Design
Arms and Interventions
| Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
|---|---|
| Experimental: Hearing Aid use for listening to speech in a common difficult situation The hearing aids will be worn in two different programs, each with a different microphone configuration. The participants will listen to speech while wearing the hearing aids and alternate programs to form their opinions about these programs; they will only know that they are rating different settings, not what the settings are. They will then rate their listening experiences via rating scales to determine their preferences. |
Device: hearing aid -novel program
novel microphone configuration
Device: hearing aid - standard program
standard microphone configuration
|
Outcome Measures
Primary Outcome Measures
- Overall preference for a specific microphone setting/configuration [20 minutes]
Rating of preference on a scale from 0-100, with descriptors ('very low' to 'very high')
Secondary Outcome Measures
- Rating of awareness of background noise [20 minutes]
Scale from 0-100 with descriptors ('not at all' to 'extremely aware')
- Rating of Listening effort [20 minutes]
Scale from 1 - 7 with descriptors ('not at all' to 'very')
- Rating of annoyance of artefacts [20 minutes]
Rating on a scale from 0-100 with descriptors ('not at all' to 'extremely annoying')
Eligibility Criteria
Criteria
Inclusion Criteria:
-
hearing aid user with more than 6 months of experience
-
can speak and understand English fluently
Exclusion Criteria:
-
contradictions to the medical device in this study (e.g., known hypersensitivity or allergy to the investigational product)
-
limited mobility and not able to attend appointments
-
reported symptoms of vertigo and/or dizziness
-
severe tinnitus
-
limited finger dexterity and unable to operate push buttons on hearing aid or remote control
Contacts and Locations
Locations
| Site | City | State | Country | Postal Code | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Western University | London | Ontario | Canada | N6G 1G9 |
Sponsors and Collaborators
- Sonova AG
- Western University
Investigators
- Principal Investigator: Susan Scollie, PhD, Western University (aka The University of Western Ontario)
Study Documents (Full-Text)
None provided.More Information
Publications
None provided.- 5251