The Challenge of Capturing Hearing Aid Benefit: Interindividual Differences in Response to Changes in Signal Processing.

Purpose: The benefits of digital signal-processing features, such as noise reduction (NR) and frequency compression (FC), differ among individuals. This study aimed to explore the impact of deactivating NR and FC on hearing aid (HA) benefit, acknowledging the complexity of interindividual variabilit...

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Publicado en:American Journal of Audiology Vol. 35; no. 1; pp. 78 - 95
Autores principales: Van Goylen, Louise, Kestens, Katrien, Keppler, Hannah
Formato: research tables/charts Journal Article
Publicado: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Mar2026
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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      dt: Mar2026
      vid: 35
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      pub: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
      place: Rockville, Maryland
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        192148331
        192148331
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        10.1044/2025_AJA-25-00089
        192148331
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        atl: The Challenge of Capturing Hearing Aid Benefit: Interindividual Differences in Response to Changes in Signal Processing.
      aug:
        au:
          Van Goylen, Louise
          Kestens, Katrien
          Keppler, Hannah
        affil: Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Ghent University, Belgium
      sug:
        subj:
          Rehabilitation of Persons with Hearing Loss
          Hearing Aids
          Auditory Perception
          Listening Effort
          Signal Processing, Computer Assisted
          Noise Prevention and Control
          Treatment Outcomes
          Human
          Male
          Female
          Middle Age
          Aged
          Aged, 80 and Over
          Clinical Assessment Tools
          Questionnaires
          Descriptive Statistics
          Kruskal-Wallis Test
          Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test
          Data Analysis Software
          Nonparametric Statistics
          Funding Source
          Audiometry
          Acclimatization
          Quality of Life
          Middle Aged: 45-64 years
          Aged: 65+ years
          Aged, 80 & over
          Male
          Female
      ab: Purpose: The benefits of digital signal-processing features, such as noise reduction (NR) and frequency compression (FC), differ among individuals. This study aimed to explore the impact of deactivating NR and FC on hearing aid (HA) benefit, acknowledging the complexity of interindividual variability. Method: Thirty-two first-time HA users were assigned to three groups: a control group with no feature changes (n = 10, mean age [MA] = 68.40 years), an NRoff group (n = 11, MA = 65.82 years), and an FC-off group (n = 11, MA = 66.82 years). Two test sessions were separated by about 4 weeks of acclimatization. Session 1 included baseline assessments (cognition, speech understanding, subjective measures) using initial HA settings, followed by immediate speech understanding reassessment after group allocation. In Session 2, speech understanding and subjective outcomes were reassessed. Wilcoxon signed-ranks and Kruskal--Wallis tests examined within-group and betweengroups differences. Results: No significant effects of NR or FC on speech understanding or subjective measures were observed, but small trends emerged. Subjective improvements were most consistent in the control group. Tentative minor trends in subjective ratings suggested FC deactivation may be associated with declines in auditory--visual and psychosocial functioning and improvements in cognitive functioning, listening effort, and fatigue. Conclusions: Exploratory patterns suggest FC may impact subjective outcomes differently, despite no significant effects being found. The findings further critically reflect the complexity of evaluating cognition-related HA benefit and emphasize the need for multidimensional research to guide individualized HA fitting. Supplemental Material: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.31141591
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        research
        tables/charts
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
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