Effectiveness of the Directional Microphone in the ®Baha® Divino™

Abstract

Background-Patients with unilateral sensorineural hearing loss (USNHL) experience great difficulty listening to speech in noisy environments. A directional microphone (DM) could potentially improve speech recognition in this difficult listening environment. It is well known that DMs in behind-the-ear (BTE) and custom hearing aids can provide a greater signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in comparison to an omnidirectional microphone (OM) to improve speech recognition in noise for persons with hearing impairment. Studies examining the DM in bone anchored auditory osseointegrated implants (Baha), however, have been mixed, with little to no benefit reported for the DM compared to an OM.

Benefits of directional microphones and noise reduction circuits for improving Baha®hearing performance

“…Specifically, it has been found that directional microphones provide a hearing performance benefit for wearers of Baha (Oeding et al, 2010;Kompis et al, 2007). Lately, directional microphones have become both automatic and adaptive.…”

Sentence Recognition in Noise and Perceived Benefit of Noise Reduction on the Receiver and Transmitter Sides of a BICROS Hearing Aid

“…The HINT uses an adaptive step procedure to estimate the RTS at which sentences, embedded in uncorrelated restaurant noise, could be repeated correctly 50% of the time. The administration of the HINT required presentation of four lists (40 sentences) for each of the four experimental conditions (for a detailed description of the procedures for administering the HINT, see Oeding et al, 2010).…”

Challenges and Recent Developments in Sound Processing for Baha®

“…To address this, Oeding et al [16] measured the performance of 16 SSD patients using Baha with and without the directional microphone. Performance was measured with speech from the front and when noise was at 180° behind the listener or for an eight-loudspeaker array (45° separation between the speech and noise), and with the good ear both open and closed using a hearing protector muff.…”