Korean J Otorhinolaryngol-Head Neck Surg.  2018 Jun;61(6):287-294. 10.3342/kjorl-hns.2017.00668.

Clinical Usefulness of Speech Mapping for Fitting of Hearing Aids

• Kim SY
• Park JS
• Kim MB

• KMID: 2436470
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3342/kjorl-hns.2017.00668

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of speech mapping based on real ear measurement for routine hearing aid fitting and to compare functional gains for evaluating subjective satisfaction of hearing aid users.
SUBJECTS AND METHOD
Twenty two participants with bilateral symmetric (< 10 dB HL difference) sensorineural hearing loss were enrolled in this study. All participants were fitted unilateral hearing aids with speech mapping using the National Acoustic Laboratories-Nonlinear 2 formula. After the initial fitting, patients were followed with the 2nd and 3rd fitting at two weeks and six weeks, respectively, and measured for aided pure tone average (PTA), aided speech discrimination score (SDS), the difference between target gain and real ear insertion gain (REIG) using speech mapping and subjective satisfaction via Korean Adaptation of the International Outcome Inventory for Hearing Aids (K-IOI-HA) questionnaire before further fitting was performed. We analyzed correlation of each parameter at 2nd and 3rd fitting with the K-IOI-HA score.
RESULTS
Every sequential aided PTA and SDS at 2nd fitting and 3rd fitting were significantly improved after repeated hearing aid fitting (all p < 0.01). In the correlation analysis between K-IOI-HA and each parameter, the aided PTA and aided SDS did not show significant correlations with subjective satisfaction from the 2nd and 3rd fittings. But the difference between the target gain and R EIG in speech mapping showed significant negative correlations with the satisfaction scores at various speech level (r=-0.609 to -0.709, all p < 0.01).
CONCLUSION
Speech mapping using real ear measurement was useful to expect subjective satisfaction of hearing aid users and it would be a valuable tool for fine tuning to achieve individual preferences.

Keyword

Auditory threshold; Hearing aids; Hearing loss; Questionnaire

MeSH Terms

Acoustics
Auditory Threshold
Ear
Hearing Aids*
Hearing Loss
Hearing Loss, Sensorineural
Hearing*
Humans
Methods
Speech Perception