2023 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 5-7, 2023 • Cincinnati, OH
10/24/2016 | 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM | The Effectiveness of a Paired-Comparison Approach to Helping Children with Hearing Loss in Kenya | BGPOP Building 4A/B/C
The Effectiveness of a Paired-Comparison Approach to Helping Children with Hearing Loss in Kenya
Functional gain (difference between unaided and aided audiometric thresholds) was measured for 56 children who ranged in age from 5 to 18 years. The Starkey Hearing Foundation had fit each child with binaural, behind-the-ear hearing aids using a paired-comparison method that has been named the wide frequency audibility fitting method.
It was unknown how this simple fitting method would perform in providing useful amplification for the children in the study. Hearing thresholds for the children in the study averaged in the severe to profound, and all had been fit within the past year (some having received their hearing aids only a month prior to data collection).
Functional gain measures showed that the amplification provided is allowing some access to speech but not full access at normal conversational levels. Mean thresholds for the right and left ears of the children in the study were entered into a Verifit hearing aid analyzer (Audioscan), and target gain prescriptions for 65 dB SPL inputs were generated using both the Desired Sensation Level (DSL, version 5.0) and the National Acoustics Laboratories Non-linear prescription (NAL-NL2) methods. When the prescriptive measure gain targets were compared to the mean functional gain values, the aided thresholds matched the NAL-NL2 targets very closely but were below the DSL targets by approximately 10 dB.
Additional gain may be achieved as the children become accustomed to the amplification they received, and follow up services are provided to increase their amplification. This preliminary evaluation provides a first look at the effectiveness of the WFA fitting method and shows encouraging results. The pros and cons of paired-comparison hearing aid fitting will be examined compared with prescriptive target hearing aid fittings for individuals in the developing world.
- The learner will recognize the advantages and disadvantages of a paired-comparison approach for fitting hearing aids in developing countries as compared to using prescription target hearing aid fitting approaches that are used in developed countries.
- The learner will examine the benefits and limitations of functional gain testing in assessing hearing aid benefit in children.
- The learner will review prescription targets for severe to profound hearing loss in the context of available speech information.
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Presenters/Authors
Luqman Lawal
(), Starkey Hearing Foundation/ University of Minnesota SPH, Luqman_Lawal@starkeyfoundation.org;
Luqman Lawal MD, MPH is a Public health Physician who serves as the Director of Global health and Research at the Starkey Hearing Foundation.
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Jeffery Larsen
(), Utah State University , jeffery.larsen@usu.edu;
Jeff Larsen is a faculty member of the Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education at Utah State University. He works in the adult audiology clinic, teaches courses, and conducts research. His primary interests are speech perception, classroom acoustics, humanitarian audiology, and vestibular outcomes in the case of mild traumatic brain injury.
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Chalese Buttars
(), Starkey Hearing Foundation, chalese.buttars@yahoo.com;
Chalese Butters has been with the Starkey Hearing Foundation for 2 years where she has spearheaded work with schools and families of children with hearing loss. Her goals include improving the communication skills and speech and language skills of children with hearing loss in developing countries. Chalese has also worked at Peak ENT Associates in Provo, UT.
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Dave Fabry
(), Starkey Hearing Technologies, dave_fabry@starkey.com;
Dave Fabry is currently Vice President of Audiology and Professional Relations at Starkey Hearing Technologies, where he has been employed since 2009. Previously, he was Chief of Audiology at Mayo Clinic (1994-2002) and the University of Miami (2007-2009), and Vice-President of Audiology and Professional Relations for Phonak Hearing Systems (2002-2007). He is a past Board Member (1997-2002) and President (2001) of the American Academy of Audiology, and is currently the Editor of Audiology Today.
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