Prescription of Gain-Setting and Prognosis for Use and Benefit of Post-Aural Hearing Aids

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Abstract
Degree of hearing aid use, aid gain setting and the improvement given by the aid in a speech identification task were determined for a sample of post-aural hearing aid users. Measures of the spectral effects of gain settings received by individuals suggested that the poor frequency responses of the aids examined severely restricted the overall gain and hence the frequency range of useful gain. The outcome variables of use, gain and improvement in identification were each examined in relation to a selection of audiological predictor variables that would be easily obtained clinically. Multiple-regression analysis furnished equations accounting for a considerable proportion of the variance in gain setting and in use and for a moderate proportion of the variance in the identification improvement score. These results suggest that it is valid to predict use on an individual basis when determining the emphasis of rehabilitative programmes and it is helpful to predict gain for individuals when advising them on the gain setting to be attempted. The patterns of correlations obtained justify determining the speech detection threshold and the uncomfortable loudness level in order to predict a most comfortable level and when assessing the benefit and use of an aid. Nous avons cherché dans quelle mesure une prévision en fonction d'un ensemble de données fournies par l'audiologie clinique était possible concernant la durée d'utilisation d'une prothèse, le réglage habituellement adopts ainsi que l'amelioration qu'elle pouvait procurer en audiométrie vocale. Nos analyses ont permis d'expliquer un pourcentage de variance assez grand parmi les sujets examinés. S'il nous apparaiˇt que des moyens manquent actuellement pour la prévision de l'amélioration en pourcentage d'intelligibilité, nous montrons toutefois qu'il est possible d'établir une prévision correcte en ce qui concerne l'utilisation et le gain graˇce à la prise en compte d'un niveau confortable d'audition calculé.

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