The effects of using hearing aids and a frequency modulated system on listening effort among adolescents with hearing loss

Abstract

Objective: To develop a web-based application for a colour pattern memory recognition task as the secondary task of a dual-task paradigm and to compare the listening effort required by adolescents with hearing loss (HL) under two conditions (HA and HA + FM system), to adolescents with normal hearing (NH).

Design: Cohort study. The participants underwent a dual-task paradigm, including the Hearing in Noise Test as the primary task and a colour memory task as the secondary task. A platform, PALETA, was developed to assess the secondary task.

Study sample: In total, 31 adolescents were enrolled, of which 13 adolescents had HL and 18 adolescents had NH (mean age, 14 years).

Results: Adolescents with NH scored significantly better on the secondary task compared to participants with HL using a HA. However, on analysing response time, no significant differences were observed among the groups.

Conclusion: PALETA is proposed as a test procedure for the secondary task. The results revealed that the use of an FM system reduces the listening effort that adolescents with HL deploy to recognise speech in noise, and that listening effort data by number of correct responses is a way of investigating the benefits of using FM system.

Keywords:

• Listening effort
• Remote microphones
• wireless technology
• hearing assistance technology

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the adolescents who took part in this study and the audiologists and secretaries of the Hearing Health Sector of the Hospital for Rehabilitation of Craniofacial Anomalies of the University of São Paulo - Bauru, whose support was essential to this project.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brasil (CAPES) – Finance Code 001 (process number 88881.132744/2016-01). We were also supported by funds from the endowed Caroline Durand Research Chair in Hearing and Aging of the University of Montreal, held by one of the authors (J-PG).