Quantification of directional benefit across different polar response patterns

Ruth A Bentler; Jessica L M Egge; Jill L Tubbs; Andrew B Dittberner; Gregory A Flamme

doi:10.3766/jaaa.15.9.6

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Quantification of directional benefit across different polar response patterns

Journal article

Peer reviewed

Quantification of directional benefit across different polar response patterns

Ruth A Bentler, Jessica L M Egge, Jill L Tubbs, Andrew B Dittberner and Gregory A Flamme

Journal of the American Academy of Audiology, Vol.15(9), pp.649-659

10/2004

DOI: 10.3766/jaaa.15.9.6

PMID: 15575339

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between the directivity of a directional microphone hearing aid and listener performance. Hearing aids were fit bilaterally to 19 subjects with sensorineural hearing loss, and five microphone conditions were assessed: omnidirectional, cardioid, hypercardioid, supercardioid, and "monofit," wherein the left hearing aid was set to omnidirectional and the right hearing aid to hypercardioid. Speech perception performance was assessed using the Hearing in Noise Test (HINT) and the Connected Speech Test (CST). Subjects also assessed eight domains of sound quality for three stimuli (speech in quiet, speech in noise, and music). A diffuse soundfield system composed of eight loudspeakers forming the corners of a cube was used to output the background noise for the speech perception tasks and the three stimuli used for sound quality judgments. Results indicated that there were no significant differences in the HINT or CST performance, or sound quality judgments, across the four directional microphone conditions when tested in a diffuse field. Of particular interest was the monofit condition: Performance on speech perception tests was the same whether one or two directional microphones were used.

Aged

Aged, 80 and over

Analysis of Variance

Equipment Design

Female

Hearing Aids

Hearing Loss, Sensorineural - rehabilitation

Humans

Male

Middle Aged

Sound Localization

Speech Discrimination Tests

Speech Perception

Details

Title: Subtitle: Quantification of directional benefit across different polar response patterns
Creators: Ruth A Bentler - University of Iowa
Jessica L M Egge - University of Iowa
Jill L Tubbs - University of Iowa
Andrew B Dittberner - University of Iowa
Gregory A Flamme - University of Iowa
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Journal of the American Academy of Audiology, Vol.15(9), pp.649-659
DOI: 10.3766/jaaa.15.9.6
PMID: 15575339
ISSN: 1050-0545
eISSN: 2157-3107
Language: English
Date published: 10/2004
Academic Unit: Communication Sciences and Disorders
Record Identifier: 9984383892102771

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