Clinical Trial: Predicting Success With Hearing Aids

Study Status: Completed
Recruit Status: Completed
Study Type: Observational

Official Title: Speech-in-Noise Measures as a Predictor of Hearing Aid Outcomes

Brief Summary: The primary complaint of individuals with hearing loss is difficulty understanding speech in the presence of background noise. Although hearing aids help individuals understand speech in background noise better, there is a high rate of hearing aid rejection in part due to continued difficulty understanding speech in complex listening situations. The results of this study may demonstrate that speech-in-noise test results can be a predictor of hearing aid success. The results of this study also may lead to further studies that can evaluate interventions to improve hearing aid success for individuals who are identified as unsuccessful hearing aid users.

Detailed Summary:

As numerous studies have reported, the most common complaint that individuals with sensorineural hearing loss have about their hearing is that they can hear speech but they cannot understand speech, especially in background noise. For this type of hearing loss and most other types of hearing losses, hearing aids are the intervention of choice. The majority of individuals who receive hearing aids are successful hearing-aid users in that both subjectively and objectively they function better with their hearing aids than without hearing aids. Other individuals are unsuccessful hearing-aid users because for a variety of reasons their perception is that the hearing aids do not enable them to function better. Two studies (Popelka et al., 1998; Kockchin, 2000) indicate that about 25% of individuals who receive hearing aids can be considered unsuccessful hearing-aid users. If potentially (un)successful hearing-aid users can be identified, then audiologic rehabilitation programs can be designed for use with potentially successful hearing-aid users and more extensive audiologic rehabilitation programs can be designed for use with those individuals who are potentially unsuccessful hearing-aid users.

Data from a recent series of studies by N b lek and her colleagues (1991, 2004) indicate that successful and unsuccessful hearing-aids users can be predicted based on their performance on a subjective speech-in-noise task in which a most comfortable listening level is established for a travelogue story and the level of a multitalker babble is established that permits following the travelogue. The difference between these two levels is the acceptable noise level (ANL). Based on the ANL data, N b lek et al. (2006) report with 85% confidence those individuals who are successful hearing-aid users and those who are unsuccessful hearing-aid users. One premise of this proposal is that the ANL i
Sponsor: VA Office of Research and Development

Current Primary Outcome: Words-in-noise Test [ Time Frame: aided (after wearing hearing aids for at least 3 months) ]

The WIN consists of two lists of 35 Northwestern University Auditory Test No. 6 words (NU-6; Tillman and Carhart, 1966) presented in a 6-talker babble at 7 SNRs ranging from 24- to 0-dB in 4-dB decrements. Thus for each list, five unique words spoken by a female talker are presented at each SNR with the level of the babble fixed (Department of Veterans Affairs, 2006). The SNR at which the 50% point occurs is calculated with the Spearman-Kärber equation (Finney, 1952). Normal performance on the WIN is between 0 and 6-dB S/N.


Original Primary Outcome:

Current Secondary Outcome:

  • Acceptable Noise Level Test [ Time Frame: aided (after wearing hearing aids for at least 3 months) ]
    The ANL consists of a speech signal and a competing noise signal. The speech signal is a continuous monologue (Arizona Travelogue) by a male talker and the competing noise signal is the 12-talker babble from the Speech in Noise (SPIN) test (Kalikow et al, 1977). The speech and babble stimuli are recorded on separate channels on a compact disc (CD; Cosmos, Inc.). The task of the listener was to adjust the level of the travelogue to the most comfortable level (MCL) and then to adjust the level of the babble to the level the listener is willing "to put up with" and still follow the travelogue, or to the background noise level (BNL). The ANL (in dB) is the difference between the MCL and BNL.
  • International Outcomes Inventory for Hearing Aids (IOI-HA) [ Time Frame: aided (after wearing hearing aids for at least 3 months) ]
    Overall/general hearing-aid outcome measure. Range in scores are 7-35 with higher scores representing better outcomes.
  • Measure of Audiologic Rehabilitation Self-Efficacy for Hearing Aids (MARS-HA) [ Time Frame: aided (after wearing hearing aids for at least 3 months) ]
    Measures hearing-aid self-efficacy over four subscales (basic handling, advanced handling, adjustment, and aided listening). Subscale scores are averaged to produce a total self-efficacy scores that can range from 0 (low self-efficacy) to 100 (high self-efficacy).
  • Satisfaction With Amplification in Daily Life (SADL) [ Time Frame: aided (after wearing hearing aids for at least 3 months) ]
    Measures how satisfied listeners are with their current hearing aids. Total scale scores are computed by averaging the subscale (positive effect, negative features, personal image, and service & delivery) scores that range from 1 (no satisfaction) to 7 (high satisfaction).
  • Speech Spatial and Qualities of Hearing Scale (SSQ) [ Time Frame: aided (after wearing hearing aids for at least 3 months) ]
    The SSQ measures hearing abilities related to speech, spatial perception, and quality of sound using a 1-10 scale. Items are averaged across the test. Higher scores indicate better outcomes.


Original Secondary Outcome:

Information By: VA Office of Research and Development

Dates:
Date Received: September 1, 2006
Date Started: November 2006
Date Completion:
Last Updated: April 8, 2015
Last Verified: April 2015