Dataset Information

Externalization of Speech When Listening With Hearing Aids.

ABSTRACT: Subjective reports indicate that hearing aids can disrupt sound externalization and/or reduce the perceived distance of sounds. Here we conducted an experiment to explore this phenomenon and to quantify how frequently it occurs for different hearing-aid styles. Of particular interest were the effects of microphone position (behind the ear vs. in the ear) and dome type (closed vs. open). Participants were young adults with normal hearing or with bilateral hearing loss, who were fitted with hearing aids that allowed variations in the microphone position and the dome type. They were seated in a large sound-treated booth and presented with monosyllabic words from loudspeakers at a distance of 1.5 m. Their task was to rate the perceived externalization of each word using a rating scale that ranged from 10 (at the loudspeaker in front) to 0 (in the head) to -10 (behind the listener). On average, compared to unaided listening, hearing aids tended to reduce perceived distance and lead to more in-the-head responses. This was especially true for closed domes in combination with behind-the-ear microphones. The behavioral data along with acoustical recordings made in the ear canals of a manikin suggest that increased low-frequency ear-canal levels (with closed domes) and ambiguous spatial cues (with behind-the-ear microphones) may both contribute to breakdowns of externalization.

SUBMITTER: Best V

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10865954 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan-Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Externalization of Speech When Listening With Hearing Aids.

Best Virginia V Roverud Elin E

Trends in hearing 20240101

Subjective reports indicate that hearing aids can disrupt sound externalization and/or reduce the perceived distance of sounds. Here we conducted an experiment to explore this phenomenon and to quantify how frequently it occurs for different hearing-aid styles. Of particular interest were the effects of microphone position (behind the ear vs. in the ear) and dome type (closed vs. open). Participants were young adults with normal hearing or with bilateral hearing loss, who were fitted with hearin ...[more]

PMID: 38347733

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Project description:Purpose The classroom acoustic standard ANSI/ASA S12.60-2010/Part 1 requires a reverberation time (RT) for children with hearing impairment of 0.3 s, shorter than its requirement of 0.6 s for children with typical hearing. While preliminary data from conference proceedings support this new RT requirement of 0.3 s, peer-reviewed data that support 0.3-s RT are not available on those wearing hearing aids. To help address this, this article compares speech perception performance by children with hearing aids in RTs, including those specified in the ANSI/ASA-2010 standard. A related clinical issue is whether assessments of speech perception conducted in near-anechoic sound booths, which may overestimate performance in reverberant classrooms, may now provide a more reliable estimate when the child is in a classroom with a short RT of 0.3 s. To address this, this study compared speech perception by children with hearing aids in a sound booth to listening in 0.3-s RT. Method Participants listened in classroom RTs of 0.3, 0.6, and 0.9 s and in a near-anechoic sound booth. All conditions also included a 21-dB range of speech-to-noise ratios (SNRs) to further represent classroom listening environments. Performance measures using the Bamford-Kowal-Bench Speech-in-Noise (BKB-SIN) test were 50% correct word recognition across these acoustic conditions, with supplementary analyses of percent correct. Results Each reduction in RT from 0.9 to 0.6 to 0.3 s significantly benefited the children's perception of speech. Scores obtained in a sound booth were significantly better than those measured in 0.3-s RT. Conclusion These results support the acoustic standard of 0.3-s RT for children with hearing impairment in learning spaces ≤ 283 m3, as specified in ANSI/ASA S12.60-2010/Part 1. Additionally, speech perception testing in a sound booth did not predict accurately listening ability in a classroom with 0.3-s RT. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.11356487.

Project description:IMPORTANCE Hearing loss (HL) in children can be deleterious to their speech and language development. The standard of practice has been early provision of hearing aids (HAs) to moderate these effects; however, there have been few empirical studies evaluating the effectiveness of this practice on speech and language development among children with mild-to-severe HL. OBJECTIVE To investigate the contributions of aided hearing and duration of HA use to speech and language outcomes in children with mild-to-severe HL. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS An observational cross-sectional design was used to examine the association of aided hearing levels and length of HA use with levels of speech and language outcomes. One hundred eighty 3- and 5-year-old children with HL were recruited through records of Universal Newborn Hearing Screening and referrals from clinical service providers in the general community in 6 US states. INTERVENTIONS All but 4 children had been fitted with HAs, and measures of aided hearing and the duration of HA use were obtained. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Standardized measures of speech and language ability were obtained. RESULTS Measures of the gain in hearing ability for speech provided by the HA were significantly correlated with levels of speech (ρ179 = 0.20; P = .008) and language: ρ155 = 0.21; P = .01) ability. These correlations were indicative of modest levels of association between aided hearing and speech and language outcomes. These benefits were found for children with mild and moderate-to-severe HL. In addition, the amount of benefit from aided hearing interacted with the duration of HA experience (Speech: F4,161 = 4.98; P < .001; Language: F4,138 = 2.91; P < .02). Longer duration of HA experience was most beneficial for children who had the best aided hearing. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE The degree of improved hearing provided by HAs was associated with better speech and language development in children. In addition, the duration of HA experience interacted with the aided hearing to influence outcomes. These results provide support for the provision of well-fitted HAs to children with HL. In particular, the findings support early HA fitting and HA provision to children with mild HL.

Project description:BackgroundCortical entrainment to speech correlates with speech intelligibility and attention to a speech stream in noisy environments. However, there is a lack of data on whether cortical entrainment can help in evaluating hearing aid fittings for subjects with mild to moderate hearing loss. One particular problem that may arise is that hearing aids may alter the speech stimulus during (pre-)processing steps, which might alter cortical entrainment to the speech. Here, the effect of hearing aid processing on cortical entrainment to running speech in hearing impaired subjects was investigated.MethodologySeventeen native English-speaking subjects with mild-to-moderate hearing loss participated in the study. Hearing function and hearing aid fitting were evaluated using standard clinical procedures. Participants then listened to a 25-min audiobook under aided and unaided conditions at 70 dBA sound pressure level (SPL) in quiet conditions. EEG data were collected using a 32-channel system. Cortical entrainment to speech was evaluated using decoders reconstructing the speech envelope from the EEG data. Null decoders, obtained from EEG and the time-reversed speech envelope, were used to assess the chance level reconstructions. Entrainment in the delta- (1-4 Hz) and theta- (4-8 Hz) band, as well as wideband (1-20 Hz) EEG data was investigated.ResultsSignificant cortical responses could be detected for all but one subject in all three frequency bands under both aided and unaided conditions. However, no significant differences could be found between the two conditions in the number of responses detected, nor in the strength of cortical entrainment. The results show that the relatively small change in speech input provided by the hearing aid was not sufficient to elicit a detectable change in cortical entrainment.ConclusionFor subjects with mild to moderate hearing loss, cortical entrainment to speech in quiet at an audible level is not affected by hearing aids. These results clear the pathway for exploring the potential to use cortical entrainment to running speech for evaluating hearing aid fitting at lower speech intensities (which could be inaudible when unaided), or using speech in noise conditions.

Project description:PurposeIt is well established that (a) infants prefer listening to infant-directed speech (IDS) over adult-directed speech (ADS), and (b) IDS facilitates speech, language, and cognitive development, compared with ADS. The main purpose of this study was to determine whether infants with hearing aids (HAs), similar to their peers with normal hearing (NH), show a listening preference for IDS over ADS.MethodA total of 42 infants participated in the study. In Experiment 1, 9 infants with hearing loss, who had approximately 12 months of experience (mean chronological age of 17.57 months) with HAs, and 9 infants with NH, who had similar chronological age (17.54 months), were tested. In Experiment 2, 10 infants with hearing loss, who had approximately 4 months of experience (mean chronological age of 9.86 months) with HAs, and 14 infants with NH, who had similar chronological age (9.09 months), were tested. Infants were tested on their listening preference in 3 randomized blocks: IDS versus silence, ADS versus silence, and IDS versus ADS blocks, using the central fixation preference procedure.ResultsExperiment 1 showed that infants with HAs, similar to their peers with NH, listened longer to both IDS and ADS relative to silence; however, neither infants with HAs nor infants with NH showed a listening preference for IDS over ADS. In Experiment 2, both infants with HAs and infants with NH showed a listening preference for IDS and ADS relative to silence; in addition, both groups preferred listening to IDS over ADS.ConclusionsInfants with HAs appear to have sufficient access to the acoustic cues in the speech that allow them to develop an age-equivalent IDS preference. This may be attributed to a combination of being able to use the hearing they do have before receiving HAs and early device fitting. Given previously demonstrated positive associations between IDS preference and language development, this research encourages early interventions focusing on maximizing early auditory experience in infants with hearing loss.Supplemental materialhttps://doi.org/10.23641/asha.6906365.

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Externalization of Speech When Listening With Hearing Aids.

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Externalization of Speech When Listening With Hearing Aids.

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