Evaluation of adjustment behaviour in a semi-supervised self-adjustment fine-tuning procedure for hearing aids

Abstract

Objective

This study investigated the adjustment behaviour of hearing aid (HA) users participating in a semi-supervised self-adjustment fine-tuning procedure for HAs. The aim was to link behaviour with the reproducibility and duration of the adjustments.

Design

Participants used a two-dimensional user interface to identify their HA gain preferences while listening to realistic sound scenes presented in a laboratory environment. The interface allowed participants to adjust amplitude (vertical axis) and spectral slope (horizontal axis) simultaneously. Participants were clustered according to their interaction with the user interface, and their search directions were analysed.

Study sample

Twenty older experienced HA users were invited to participate in this study.

Results

We identified four different archetypes of adjustment behaviour (curious, cautious, semi-browsing, and full-on browsing) by analysing the trace points of all measurements for each participant. Furthermore, participants used predominantly horizontal or vertical paths when searching for their preference. Neither the archetype, nor the search directions, nor the participants’ technology commitment was predictive of the reproducibility or the adjustment duration.

Conclusions

The findings suggest that enforcement of a specific adjustment behaviour or search direction is not necessary to obtain fast, reliable self-adjustments. Furthermore, no strict requirements with respect to technology commitment are necessary.

Keywords:

• Hearing aid fitting
• self-adjustment
• sound balance
• archetype
• 2D touch GUI

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Thomas Brand, Graham Keith Coleman, and Tobias de Taillez for very valuable suggestions and inspiration regarding the analysis of the data, the Associate Editor and the reviewers for their helpful comments, and Jennifer Truempler for her English language support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research as part of “Medizintechnische Lösungen für die digitale Gesundheitsversorgung” [contract number: 13GW0167C] and by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft [DFG, German Research Foundation] under Germany’s Excellence Strategy – EXC 2177/1 – Project ID 390895286.