Acceptable Noise Level as a Measure of Directional Hearing Aid Benefit

An acceptable noise level (ANL) procedure for measuring hearing aid directional benefit was compared with masked speech reception threshold (SRT) and front-to-back ratio (FBR) procedures. ANL is the difference between the most comfortable listening level and the maximum accepted background noise level while listening to speech. Forty adult subjects wearing their own binaural hearing aids were evaluated in omnidirectional and directional modes. The subjects were fitted with a variety of hearing aids by clinical audiologists, independent of the study. For each procedure, speech and noise were presented through loudspeakers located at 0° and 180° azimuth, respectively. Mean ANL (3.5 dB), SRT (3.7 dB), and FBR (2.9 dB) directional benefits were not significantly different. The ANL and masked SRT benefits were significantly correlated. The ANL appears to be a quick, clinician/user friendly procedure for measuring hearing aid directional benefit. Se comparó un procedimiento de nivel aceptable de ruido (ANL) para medir el beneficio direccional de un auxiliar auditivo, con un procedimiento de umbral de recepción del lenguaje (SRT) y uno de tasa de adelante-a-atrás (FBR). El ANL es la diferencia entre el nivel de audición más confortable y el nivel máximo aceptado de ruido de fondo para escuchar lenguaje. Se evaluó a cuarenta sujetos adultos utilizando sus propios auxiliares auditivos binaurales en modo direccional y omni-direccional. Audiólogos clínicos independientes del estudio adaptaron a estos sujetos una variedad de auxiliares auditivos. Para cada procedimiento, el lenguaje y el ruido se presentaron a través de altoparlantes colocados a 0° y a 180° azimut, respectivamente. El beneficio direccional de la media del ANL (3.5 dB), del SRT (3.7 dB) y de la FBR (2.9 dB) no fue significativamente diferente. Los beneficios del ANL y del SRT enmascarado correlacionaron significativamente. El ANL parece ser un procedimiento rápido y amigable para el clínico y el usuario, en la medición del beneficio direccional del auxiliar auditivo.