A Personal Sound Amplification Product Compared to aBasic Hearing Aid for Speech Intelligibility in Adults withMild-to-Moderate Sensorineural Hearing Loss

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to compare functional hearing with the use ofa personal sound amplification product (PSAP) or a basic hearing aid (HA) among sensorineuralhearing impaired listeners. Subjects and Methods: Nineteen participants with mild-to-moderatesensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) (26-55 dB HL; pure-tone average, 0.5-4 kHz) wereprospectively included. No participants had prior experience with HAs or PSAPs. Audiograms,speech intelligibility in both quiet and noisy environments, speech quality, and preference wereassessed in three different listening conditions unaided, with the HA, and with the PSAP. Results:The use of PSAP was associated with significant improvement in pure-tone thresholds at 1, 2,and 4 kHz compared to the unaided condition (all p<0.01). In the quiet environment, speechintelligibility was significantly improved after wearing a PSAP compared to the unaided condition(p<0.001), and this improvement was better than the result obtained with the HA. The PSAPalso demonstrated similar improvement in the most comfortable levels compared to those obtainedwith the HA (p<0.05). However, there was no significant improvement of speech intelligibilityin a noisy environment when wearing the PSAP (p=0.160). There was no significant differencein the reported speech quality produced by either device or in participant preference for thePSAP or HA. Conclusions: The current result suggests that PSAPs provide considerable benefitsto speech intelligibility in a quiet environment and can be a good alternative to compensatefor mild-to-moderate SNHL. J Audiol Otol 2020;24(2)91-98