Hearing aid options to improve communication in noise include directional processing, digital noise suppression, and remote microphones. We examined the relationship between speech in noise difficulties and the technology the patient received in their clinical fitting. This clinical sample included 107 hearing aid wearers with a range of audiograms (mild to severe) and QuickSIN scores (-2 to 25 dB SNR) who had obtained hearing aids at different community and university clinics. Most participants’ hearing aids incorporated digital noise reduction (88% of participants) and directionality (84% of participants). However, the type of directionality varied. Listeners with more difficulty in noise (defined by poor QuickSIN scores) were more likely to use fixed directionality and less likely to use adaptive directionality. Only 25% of study participants used hearing assistive technology. These data show an opportunity to increase clinical use of the most effective noise reduction technologies. For details, read the full article here.
