Perceived Occlusion and Comfort in Receiver-in-the-Ear Hearing Aids

Introduction The studies on hearing aid benefit in individuals with auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD) shows limited benefit. Low cut modified amplification is found to be effective in few individuals with ANSD. With advancement in technology, receiver in the canal (RIC) hearing aids have proven to be more effective than traditional behind the ear (BTE) hearing aids. Objective Thus, the present study attempts to determine the effectiveness of low cut modified amplification using RIC and BTE. Method Twenty participants with ANSD were fitted with BTE and RIC using traditional and low cut modified amplification. We divided them into good and poor performers based on unaided speech identification scores (SIS). We then compared aided SIS and aided benefit across conditions in good and poor performers with ANSD across both conditions using BTE and RIC. Results The results of the study showed that the aided performance improved with low cut modified amplification in both BTE and RIC hearing aids. The improvement noticed with low-cut modified fitting with RIC was significant in more than BTE, especially in good performers with ANSD. Conclusion The improved clarity and naturalness of sound with RIC may have led to better aided scores and better acceptance of the hearing aid. Thus, low-cut modified amplification, preferably with RIC, needs to be attempted in fitting individuals with ANSD, especially in those with good unaided SIS in quiet.

show abstract

“…18 20 Many studies in cochlear hearing loss have demonstrated the benefit with RIC over a BTE. 16 17 …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…16 17 With the ear canal open, hearing aid users generally report a more natural and clear sound quality. 18 19 20 The larger distance between the receiver and microphone leads to less feedback and gives an opportunity to use open dome fitting, which reduces the chance of occlusion in the hearing aid users.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effectiveness of Low Cut Modified Amplification using Receiver in the Canal Hearing Aid in Individuals with Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder

Prabhu

Barman

2016

Int Arch Otorhinolaryngol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Finally, although the "occlusion effect" attribute is deemed to be a significant discomfort attribute for earplugs wearers such as workers (Berger and Voix 2018;Casali et al 1987), musicians (Bernier 2013;Killion 2012;Laitinen and Poulsen 2008) or hearing aids wearers (Branda 2012;Conrad and Rout 2013;French-Saint George and Barr-Hamilton 1978;Furstenberg, Gordon, and Baccaro 1988;Killion, Wilber, and Gudmundsen 1988;Kochkin 2000;Mackenzie, Browning, and McClymont 1989), few HPD comfort studies incorporate questions about this effect in their questionnaires and it is therefore very difficult to estimate its contribution to overall comfort in general. Brown-Rothwell (1986) measures an item on the voice level (item: "I find it difficult to judge how loudly to speak to others") and relates it to the degree of occlusion experienced and thus to the possible occlusion effect.…”

Section: Acoustical Dimension Of Comfortmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is worth noting that the vast majority of studies on the relationship between comfort and perceived occlusion deal with hearing aids (Alworth et al 2010). The perceived occlusion is evaluated from perception tests of the quality of one's own voice (by reading sentences displayed on a screen aloud while wearing the hearing aid) or listening tests of external voices (Conrad and Rout 2013). Examples of attributes used to judge the quality of the voice are "boomy", "hollow", "resonant", "sounds like talking in a barrel".…”

Section: Acoustical Dimension Of Comfortmentioning

confidence: 99%

A critical review of the literature on comfort of hearing protection devices: definition of comfort and identification of its main attributes for earplug types

Doutres

Sgard

Terroir

et al. 2019

International Journal of Audiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objective: This paper presents a comprehensive literature review of past works addressing Hearing Protection Devices (HPD) comfort and to put them into perspective regarding a proposed holistic multidimensional construct of HPD comfort. Design: Literature review. Study samples: Documents were hand searched and Internet searched using "PubMed", "Web of Science", "Google Scholar", "ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Professional", "Scopus" or "Google" search engines. While comfort constructs and measurement methods are reviewed for both earplugs and earmuff types, results and analyses are provided for the earplug type only. Results: This paper proposed a multidimensional construct of HPD comfort based on four dimensions: physical, functional, acoustical and psychological. Seen through the prism of the proposed holistic construct of HPD comfort, the main comfort attributes of earplugs have been identified for each comfort dimension. Conclusions: The observed lack of consensus on the definition of HPD comfort in the scientific community makes it difficult to prioritize the importance of comfort attributes yet necessary for future design of comfortable earplugs.

show abstract

“…Another important specification shared by most of the IEDs is related to the quality of the acoustic seal at the ear canal/IED interface that should insulate adequately the eardrum from external noise. However, the usability and/or the efficiency of such devices can be limited by three major discomfort components also related to the quality of the mechanical and acoustic seals : (i) the physiological comfort component characterized by attributes such as friction, irritation or the mechanical pressure exerted by the device on the body, (ii) the acoustical comfort component characterized by attributes such as over-or under-attenuation of external noise, difficulty in communication, occlusion effect or acoustical feedback and (iii) the functional comfort component characterized by attributes such as the ease of insertion or the looseness of the fit (French-Saint, et al, 1978;Casali, et al, 1987;MacKenzie, et al, 1989;Park, et al, 1991;Harrison, 1993;Azeres, et al, 2008;Kochkin, 2000;Pirzanski, et al, 2004;Davis, 2008;Conrad, et al, 2013;Davis, et al, 2016;Doutres, et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimation of the ear canal displacement field due to in-ear device insertion using a registration method on a human-like artificial ear

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Passive and active in-ear devices (IED) occluding the ear canal are commonly used to (i) protect people from high noise levels (earplugs), (ii) assist people suffering from hearing impairment (hearing aids) or (iii) help people in listening from their sound systems (earbuds). However, the usability and/or efficiency of IEDs can be greatly affected by several discomfort components (physical, acoustical and functional). The mechanical pressure exerted by the IED onto the ear canal walls is greatly suspected to affect the aforementioned comfort components. This physical characteristic is closely related to the displacement field induced by the IED insertion, which has to be known for a better understanding of perceived discomfort. Thus, this paper proposes to validate a method based on medical images to estimate the displacement field of the ear canal walls due to the insertion of an IED. The approach is validated on a human-like artificial ear with canal geometry deformed using two custom molded IEDs with controlled shapes. These geometries are obtained using computed tomography imaging and the displacement field is computed using a registration method. The errors due to the ear canal segmentation and to the registration steps are small enough to compute a relevant estimation of the expected displacement field. Results show that the amplitude of the displacement and its location into the ear canal can be evaluated with an accuracy of ± 0.2 mm and ± 0.4 mm respectively. Preliminary results on images with a degraded resolution indicate that the proposed approach used to assess the displacement field of the ear canal walls using computed tomography images could be applied on magnetic resonance images, which is a preferred method to image human subject ear canals for future investigations.

show abstract

Perceived Occlusion and Comfort in Receiver-in-the-Ear Hearing Aids

Cited by 8 publications

References 23 publications

Effectiveness of Low Cut Modified Amplification using Receiver in the Canal Hearing Aid in Individuals with Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder

Effectiveness of Low Cut Modified Amplification using Receiver in the Canal Hearing Aid in Individuals with Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder

A critical review of the literature on comfort of hearing protection devices: definition of comfort and identification of its main attributes for earplug types

Estimation of the ear canal displacement field due to in-ear device insertion using a registration method on a human-like artificial ear

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About