Hearing aids make lives better. Save them, even. Nonetheless, many people don’t wear them.
Why not?
One study indicated that 25% of people that rejected hearing aids did so because the felt like those hearing aids did a poor job in eliminating background noise. This rejection of potentially helpful hearing aid technology was one of the impetuses for a recently concluded three-year double-blind study to test the real-world benefit of directional hearing aids.
Ninety-four subjects, all previous users of omni-directional hearing aids were fit with directional hearing aids for a month, followed by omnidirectional hearing aids for a month. For each hearing aid, they were given objective and subjective hearing tests and asked to respond on their experience.
The data showed that while subjective testing failed to produce a clear preference, directional hearing aids fared notably better in objective hearing tests.
A significant conclusion can be drawn from the test that the use of directional microphones in hearing aids can help users identify speech-in-noise. Identifying speech-in-noise is one of the primary concerns for any wearer of a hearing-aid; it is what allows the user of the aid to distinguish between the clattering of dishes and the funny story of a coworker.
This study helps show the vast improvements and the brilliant science going into hearing aid technology.
Tags: hearing aid, hearing loss, hearing technology, omnidirectional hearing aids
