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022 _a2148-3817
100 _aChinnaraj Geetha
245 0 _a Efficacy of Directional Microphones in Hearing Aids Equipped with Wireless Synchronization Technology
260 _c2017
300 _a113-117
490 _vVolume 13 Issue 1
520 _aObjective: This study aimed to evaluate the use of directionality in hearing aids with wireless synchronization on localization and speech intelligibility in noise.Materials and methods: This study included 25 individuals with bilateral mild to moderate flat sensorineural hearing loss. For the localization experiment, eight loudspeakers (Genelec 8020B) arranged in a circle covering a 0-360° angle and the Cubase 6 software were used for presenting the stimulus. A car horn of 260 ms was presented from these loudspeakers, one at a time, randomly. The listener was instructed to point to the direction of the source. The degree of the localization error was obtained with and without directionality and wireless synchronization options. For speech perception in a noise experiment, signal to noise ratio-50 (SNR-50) was obtained using sentences played through a speaker at a fixed angle of 0°. A calibrated eight-talker speech babble was used as noise and the babble was routed either through 0°, 90°, 270° (through one speaker at a time) or through both 90° and 270° speakers.Results: The results revealed that the conditions where both the wireless synchronization and directionality were activated resulted in a significantly better performance in both localization and speech perception in noise tasks.Conclusion: It can be concluded that the directionality in the wireless synchronization hearing aids coordinates with each other binaurally for better preservation of binaural cues, thus reducing the localization errors and improving speech perception in noise. The results of this study could be used to counsel and justify the selection of the directional wireless synchronization hearing aids.
700 _aKishore Tanniru
700 _aRaja Rajan, R
773 _aThe Journal of International Advanced Otology
856 _uhttps://doi.org/10.5152/iao.2017.2820
942 _cFJAS
_yFJAS
999 _c18108
_d18108