The Effect of Hearing Aid Use on the User's Residual Hearing

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Abstract
This paper reports on a longitudinal study into the effect of hearing aid amplification on the user's residual hearing. Four groups of deaf children, 30 children in each of the first three groups and 10 children in the fourth group, participated in this investigation. The children in group A were fitted with individual hearing aids in one ear with maximum acoustic outputs ranging from 130–136 dB SPL. The children in group B were fitted with hearing aids with maximum outputs ranging from 116–128 dB, the children in group C were not using hearing aids and the children in group D were fitted with binaural hearing aids. Their hearing levels at 500, 1000, 2000 and 4000 Hz were ascertained at the beginning of the investigation and at subsequent 6-monthly intervals over a period of 3 years. It was found that the hearing acuity of the hearing aided ears showed slight ‘improvement’ during the investigation while the hearing acuity of the unaided ears showed slight ‘deterioration’ in all frequencies tested.