In this month’s update we discuss Wu & Bentler 2010. The authors made valuable observations on the impact of visual cues to directional microphone benefit and preference.
http://blog.starkeypro.com/bid/73206/Do-hearing-aid-wearers-benefit-from-visual-cues
Wu, Y-H. & Bentler, R.A. (2010) Impact of visual cues on directional benefit and preference: Part I – laboratory tests. Ear and Hearing 31(1), 22-34.
Posted in Hearing, Technology
Tagged galster, hearing, hearing aids, jason galster
Many audiologists notice that the benefits that patients’ field experience with directional microphones differs from controlled test environments, particularly laboratory environments. In this 2004 article Cord and colleagues provide some insight into these differences that are observed in the lab and real-world.
Cord, M., Surr, R., Walden, B. & Dyrlund, O. (2004). Relationship between laboratory measures of directional advantage and everyday success with directional microphone hearing aids.Journal of the American Academy of Audiology 15, 353-364.
Posted in Hearing, Technology
Tagged galster, hearing, hearing aids, hearing research, jason galster
This paper introduces a new method for frequency lowering in hearing aids. Many individuals with high-frequency hearing loss do not have access to the highest frequency components of speech. Technologies such as Spectral iQ are designed to move the highest frequency information to lower frequencies, which for most patients results in increased audibility for those sounds.
Galster, J.A., Valentine, S., Dundas, J.A., & Fitz, K. (2011). Spectral iQ: Audibly improving access to high-frequency sounds. Starkey Laboratories, Inc. Technology Paper.
Posted in Hearing, Technology
Tagged galster, hearing, hearing aids, hearing loss, hearing research, hearing science, jason galster, research
Appropriate prescription of MPO is an often overlooked parameter. A fair amount of research exists that would suggest inappropriate application of MPO will significantly decrease the likelihood of hearing aid acceptance. In this article review Dr. Kuk and colleagues discuss some possible negative outcomes related to the under-prescription of MPO. The authors go on to suggest that the addition of digital noise reduction may mitigate some of these negative outcomes.
http://blog.starkeypro.com/bid/70080/Are-you-prescribing-an-appropriate-MPO
Kuk, F., Peeters, H., Korhonen, P. & Lau, C. (2010). Effect of MPO and noise reduction on speech recognition in noise. Journal of the American Academy of Audiology, submitted November 2010.
Posted in Hearing, Technology
Tagged auditory, galster, hearing, hearing aids, hearing loss, hearing research, jason galster, research
In this throwback to 2003 Jenstad and colleagues completed a study that evaluated consistency in interpretation of patient complaints and the actions that would be taken to address these complaints. Their findings show excellent agreement between the interpretation and subsequent actions made by two independent groups of survey respondents.
http://blog.starkeypro.com/bid/69065/Addressing-patient-complaints-when-fine-tuning-a-hearing-aid
Jenstad, L.M., Van Tasell, D.J. & Ewert, C. (2003). Hearing aid troubleshooting based on patient’s descriptions. Journal of the American Academy of Audiology 14 (7).
Posted in Hearing, Technology
Tagged acoustics, audio, auditory, galster, hearing, hearing aids, hearing loss, hearing research, hearing science, jason galster, research
Clinically many audiologists may struggle with deciding how to best to prescribe hearing aids when a patient has been diagnosed with cochlear dead regions. The September blog update discusses a recent article from Dr. Robyn Cox and colleagues at the University of Memphis. The authors completed a large scale study, evaluating some outcomes for patients who were diagnosed with cochlear dead regions. Their conclusions offer direction for the fitting of hearing aids.
http://blog.starkeypro.com/bid/66368/Recommendations-for-fitting-patients-with-cochlear-dead-regions
Cox, R.M., Alexander, G.C., Johnson, J. & Rivera, I. (2011). Cochlear dead regions in typical hearing aid candidates: Prevalence and implications for use of high-frequency speech cues. Ear & Hearing 32 (3), 339-348.
Posted in Hearing
Tagged acoustics, auditory, galster, hearing, hearing aids, hearing loss, hearing research, hearing science, jason galster, research
Do you use a speech stimulus when testing hearing aids? With so many options for real-ear measures it’s difficult to select between noise, synthetic speech or real speech. Each of which may yield different measurement results. Ideally we would have a standardized speech stimulus for testing hearing aids. This month’s post summarizes the development of the International Speech Test Signal (ISTS) a speech stimulus designed for testing hearing aids. Within a few years this stimulus should be available in most real-ear equipment and can currently be regarded as the preferred stimulus for the verification of modern hearing aids.
Holube, I., Fredelake, S., Vlaming, M. & Kollmeier, B. (2010). Development and analysis of an international speech test signal (ISTS). International Journal of Audiology, 49, 891-903.
http://blog.starkeypro.com/bid/63370/A-preferred-speech-stimulus-for-testing-hearing-aids
Posted in Hearing, Internet, Technology
Tagged acoustics, audio, galster, hearing, hearing aids, hearing loss, hearing research, hearing science, jason galster, research
This month’s issue of Audiology Practices includes an article that discusses methods for streaming audio (television and telephone) to modern hearing aids. With multiple options for wireless communication with hearing aids selecting among these technologies can feel daunting.
Awash in a stream of wireless solutions
Galster, J.A. (2011). Awash in a stream of wireless solutions. Audiology Practices, 3(2), 26-29.
Posted in Hearing, Personal, Technology
Tagged acoustics, audio, auditory, galster, hearing, hearing aids, hearing research, hearing science, jason galster, research
Have you ever wondered if those boxy receivers on RIC products increase objective or subjective occlusion? In this article summary we discuss observations from Vasil-Dilaj and Cienkowski, who find that most receivers are not sufficiently occluding to have a negative impact.
http://blog.starkeypro.com/bid/59855/Will-placing-a-receiver-in-the-canal-increase-occlusion
Vasil-Dilaj, K.A., & Cienkowski, K.M. (2010). The influence of receiver size on magnitude of acoustic and perceived measures of occlusion. American Journal of Audiology, 20, 61-68.
Posted in Hearing, Technology
Tagged acoustics, auditory, galster, hearing, hearing aids, hearing research, jason galster
In our June blog post Dr. Stevens and I review:
Brennan, M., & Souza, P. (2009). Effects of expansion on consonant recognition and consonant audibility.Journal of the American Academy of Audiology 20, 119-127.
http://blog.starkeypro.com/bid/58347/Does-Expansion-Decrease-Low-Level-Speech-Understanding
Expansion algorithms decrease hearing aid output at very low input levels improving comfort and avoiding amplification of low level environmental sounds (like the refrigerator). In this article the authors document decreased speech understanding when using aggressive expansion. The importance of validated expansion logic is highlighted by these observations.
Posted in Hearing, Technology
Tagged galster, hearing, hearing aids, hearing loss, hearing research, jason galster, research