Current Issue
Volumes and Issues
For Authors
Manuscript Guidelines
Review Process
Conflict of Interest
Copyright
About the Journal
Editorial Board
Aim and Scope
Policy and Ethical Guidelines
Promotion of the Journal
Print-Version Subscription
Publisher and Contact Information
Contact Information
Sign in
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
TIMELY APPLICATION OF HEARING AIDS HELPS PRESERVE SPEECH DISCRIMINATION ABILITY
1
Hearing, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran
A - Research concept and design; B - Collection and/or assembly of data; C - Data analysis and interpretation; D - Writing the article; E - Critical revision of the article; F - Final approval of article;
Publication date: 2020-03-31
Corresponding author
Susan Abdi
Hearing, TUMS, 3rd Floor – 37 Bahareshiraz St, Shariati Ave, 1565774419 Tehran, Iran; email: susanabdi2000@gmail.com, tel. +989121499920
Hearing, TUMS, 3rd Floor – 37 Bahareshiraz St, Shariati Ave, 1565774419 Tehran, Iran; email: susanabdi2000@gmail.com, tel. +989121499920
J Hear Sci 2020;10(1):27-32
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Background:
Hearing damage has been related to certain brain conditions, particularly cognitive impairment. Hearing aids are commonly prescribed to compensate for hearing loss. In the current study, the time from when a hearing aid was first used by a patient was studied in terms of their speech discrimination ability in comparison with matched individuals who used no hearing aids.
Material and methods:
Some 204 patients were enrolled and classified into two groups: 102 patients willing to use a hearing aid as soon as their hearing loss was diagnosed (Aided Group) and 102 patients who were also diagnosed with hearing loss but did not adopt hearing aids (Unaided group). The mean hearing threshold (HT) at octave intervals from 125 to 8000 Hz, speech reception threshold (SRT), and speech discrimination score (SDS) were compared between the two groups of patients at 18 and 36 months.
Results:
According to measurements 36 months after a patient’s first attendance, patients who did not use a hearing aid immediately had significantly lower SDS scores compared to patients who decided to use hearing aids early on. This clearly demonstrates that timely application of hearing aids can prevent the loss of speech perception capabilities.
Conclusions:
It is suggested that the golden time for hearing aid application is important. Hearing aids worn during the early stages of hearing loss can lead to improved speech discrimination ability. If there is hearing loss while discrimination is good (80% or higher), a hearing aid will be very useful. However, if discrimination is poor the results will not be as good.
Hearing damage has been related to certain brain conditions, particularly cognitive impairment. Hearing aids are commonly prescribed to compensate for hearing loss. In the current study, the time from when a hearing aid was first used by a patient was studied in terms of their speech discrimination ability in comparison with matched individuals who used no hearing aids.
Material and methods:
Some 204 patients were enrolled and classified into two groups: 102 patients willing to use a hearing aid as soon as their hearing loss was diagnosed (Aided Group) and 102 patients who were also diagnosed with hearing loss but did not adopt hearing aids (Unaided group). The mean hearing threshold (HT) at octave intervals from 125 to 8000 Hz, speech reception threshold (SRT), and speech discrimination score (SDS) were compared between the two groups of patients at 18 and 36 months.
Results:
According to measurements 36 months after a patient’s first attendance, patients who did not use a hearing aid immediately had significantly lower SDS scores compared to patients who decided to use hearing aids early on. This clearly demonstrates that timely application of hearing aids can prevent the loss of speech perception capabilities.
Conclusions:
It is suggested that the golden time for hearing aid application is important. Hearing aids worn during the early stages of hearing loss can lead to improved speech discrimination ability. If there is hearing loss while discrimination is good (80% or higher), a hearing aid will be very useful. However, if discrimination is poor the results will not be as good.
REFERENCES (21)
1.
Arlinger S. Negative consequences of uncorrected hearing loss: a review. Int J Audiol, 2003; 42 (Suppl 2): 2S17‐2S20.
2.
Engdahl B, Idstad M, Skirbekk V. Hearing loss, family status and mortality: findings from the HUNT study, Norway. Soc Sci Med, 2019; 220: 219‐225.
3.
Itoh A, Nakashima T, Arao H, et al. Smoking and drinking habits as risk factors for hearing loss in the elderly: epidemiological study of subjects undergoing routine health checks in Aichi, Japan. Public Health, 2001; 115(3): 192‐6.
4.
José MR, Campos PD, Mondelli MF. Unilateral hearing loss: benefits and satisfaction from the use of hearing aids. Braz J Otorhinolaryngol, 2011; 77(2): 221‐8.
5.
Gallacher J. Hearing, cognitive impairment and aging: a critical review. Rev Clin Gerontol, 2004;14(3): 199-209.
6.
Harrison Bush AL, Lister JJ, Frank RL, Betz J, Edwards JD. Peripheral hearing and cognition: evidence from the Staying Keen in Later Life (SKILL) study. Ear Hear, 2015; 36(4): 395-407.
7.
Ohlenforst B, Zekveld AA, Jansma EP, et al. Effects of hearing impairment and hearing aid amplification on listening effort: a systematic review. Ear Hear, 2017; 38(3): 267-81.
8.
McCoy SL, Tun SL, Cox PA, et al. Hearing loss and perceptual effort: downstream effects on older adults’ memory for speech. Q J Exp Psychol A, 2005; 58(1): 22-33.
9.
Hällgren M, Larsby B, Lyxell B, Arlinger S. Speech understanding in quiet and noise, with and without hearing aids: Int J Audiol, 2005; 44(10): 574-83.
10.
Hopkins K, Moore BC, Stone MA. Effects of moderate cochlear hearing loss on the ability to benefit from temporal fine structure information in speech. J Acoust Soc Am, 2008; 23(2): 1140-53.
11.
Shinn-Cunningham BG, Best V. Selective attention in normal and impaired hearing. Trends Amplif, 2008;12(4): 283-99.
12.
Rönnberg J, Lunne T, Zekveld A, et al., The Ease of Language Understanding (ELU) model: theoretical, empirical, and clinical advances. Front Syst Neurosci, 2013, 7: 31.
13.
Willott JF. Aging and the Auditory System. San Diego, CA: Singular Publishing Group, 1991.
14.
British Society of Audiology. Recommended procedure. Pure tone air conduction and bone conduction threshold audiometry with and without masking, 2011.
15.
Roeser, RJ, Valente M, Hosford-Dunn H. Diagnostic procedures in audiology. In: Audiology: Diagnosis (2nd ed), Thieme, New York, 2007, 1-16.
16.
Podlesek A, Komidar L, Sočan G, et al. A comparative analysis of different procedures for measuring speech recognition threshold in quiet. Psihološka Obzorja, 2008; 17(4): 33-49.
17.
Caswell KL. Test-Retest Reliability of Speech Recognition Threshold Material in Individuals with a Wide Range of Hearing Abilities. Dissertation, Brigham Young University, 2013.
19.
Hagerman B. Clinical measurements of speech reception threshold in noise. Scand Audiol, 1984; 13(1): 57-63.
20.
Plomp R. A signal-to-noise ratio model for the speech-reception threshold of the hearing impaired. J Speech Lang Hear Res, 1986; 29(2): 146-54.
21.
Stephens D, Hétu R. Impairment, disability and handicap in audiology: towards a consensus. Audiology, 1991; 30(4): 185-200.
Share
RELATED ARTICLE
We process personal data collected when visiting the website. The function of obtaining information about users and their behavior is carried out by voluntarily entered information in forms and saving cookies in end devices. Data, including cookies, are used to provide services, improve the user experience and to analyze the traffic in accordance with the Privacy policy. Data are also collected and processed by Google Analytics tool (more).
You can change cookies settings in your browser. Restricted use of cookies in the browser configuration may affect some functionalities of the website.
You can change cookies settings in your browser. Restricted use of cookies in the browser configuration may affect some functionalities of the website.
