Optimizing Hearing Aid Fitting for Older Adults

优化老年人的助听器验配

• 批准号: 6785154
• 负责人: ROBYN Masterton COX
• 金额: $ 10万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2003
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2003-09-17 至 2004-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6785154
• 关键词: binaural hearing; biomedical equipment development; clinical research; hearing aids; hearing disorders; human old age (65+); human subject; sound frequency; therapy compliance

GRANT=R556222-01 This research is directed towards improving hearing aid fitting for older adults. Despite substantial improvements in hearing aid technology, the hearing aid take-up rate, and the satisfaction with fitted hearing aids has not improved in the last decade. This is partly due to a failure by the research community to produce and disseminate updated fitting methods that facilitate the ability of practitioners to capitalize on the potential of existing new technologies. The two experiments in this proposal will produce guidelines to assist clinicians to make scientifically based decisions about amplification needs, based on the results of tests conducted before the fitting. The first experiment bridges the gap between laboratory research and clinical in selection of high frequency gain characteristic. Recent studies have demonstrated that, for some individuals with high-frequency hearing loss, high frequency amplification is actually detrimental rather than helpful. There is a pressing need for a clinically practical method that would validly identify patients for whom high-frequency gain is contraindicated. The study assesses the prevalence of such patients, and evaluates two new clinical procedures that have been developed to identify these individuals. The two procedures are used to identify experimental and control groups comprising 20 pairs of subjects. Each subject is fitted with a hearing aid that allows comparison of two amounts of high-frequency gain. Subjects undergo laboratory testing and a field trial to determine which high-frequency gain setting is better. Results show whether the two new clinical procedures yield accurate prediction of optimal high-frequency gain. The second experiment explores the indications for bilateral (binaural) hearing aid fittings for older adults with bilateral hearing loss. About 20 to 30% of bilaterally fitted individuals actually elect to wear only one hearing aid. For these individuals, resources allocated to hearing aid purchase would have been more effectively used for alternate rehabilitation methods. It is not clear why some patients prefer one hearing aid over two, or which patients will fall into this category. This study evaluates outcomes of 100 bilateral hearing aid fittings over a three-month period. Logistic regression is used to develop a model in which binaural summation, binaural integration, binaural interference, and attitudes towards hearing aids and hearing loss are combined to predict which individuals will ultimately prefer to use one hearing aid rather than two.

授权=R556222-01 这项研究旨在改善老年人的助听器验配。尽管助听器技术有了很大的改进，但在过去的十年中，助听器的使用率和对助听器的满意度并没有提高。这部分是由于研究界未能制作和传播更新的拟合方法，以促进从业人员利用现有新技术的潜力的能力。本提案中的两个实验将根据拟合前进行的测试结果，制定指导方针，以帮助临床医生对扩增需求做出基于科学的决定。 第一个实验弥合了实验室研究和临床之间在高频增益特性选择方面的差距。最近的研究表明，对于一些高频听力损失的人来说，高频放大实际上是有害的，而不是有益的。迫切需要一种临床实用的方法，可以有效地识别高频增益禁忌的患者。该研究评估了这些患者的患病率，并评估了两种新的临床程序，这些程序已被开发用于识别这些个体。这两个程序是用来确定实验组和控制组，包括20对科目。每个受试者都配有助听器，可以比较两种高频增益。受试者接受实验室测试和现场试验，以确定哪种高频增益设置更好。结果表明，这两个新的临床程序是否产生准确的预测最佳高频增益。 第二个实验探讨了双侧（双耳）助听器配件的双侧听力损失的老年人的适应症。大约20%到30%的双侧佩戴者实际上选择只佩戴一个助听器。对于这些人来说，分配给购买助听器的资源将更有效地用于替代康复方法。目前尚不清楚为什么有些患者更喜欢一个助听器而不是两个，或者哪些患者属于这一类。这项研究评估了100名双侧助听器验配者在三个月内的结果。逻辑回归用于开发一个模型，其中双耳总和，双耳整合，双耳干扰以及对助听器和听力损失的态度相结合，以预测哪些人最终更喜欢使用一个助听器而不是两个。