Hearing Aid Distortion and Consonant Identification

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Abstract
An experiment was conducted with 34 normal-hearing listeners to determine the effects of distortion (generated by a single hearing aid) on consonant identification in noise. Five experimental conditions were employed in which measured harmonic distortion ranged from approximately 1% (high fidelity) to 35%. Each listening condition involved playback of recorded test material at a constant sensation level. Results showed that average consonant identification scores, relative to the high-fidelity condition, decreased 15–29% as a function of increased distortion. Initial consonants were discriminated best across all distortion conditions, and progressive increases in distortion tended to most affect final consonants. The data also suggested possible talker/hearing aid interactions. Reduced high-frequency response and altered speech-to-noise ratio, together with harmonic distortion, were postulated as mutually inclusive causes of the observed decrements in consonant differentiation.

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