Title page for ETD etd-0130102-072730

Type of Document

Master's Thesis

Author

Lopez, Adam Benjamin

URN

etd-0130102-072730

Title

Comparative Study of Analog and Digital Hearing Aids

Degree

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Department

Communication Sciences and Disorders

Advisory Committee

Advisor Name	Title
Patrick N. Plyler	Committee Chair
Janna Oetting	Committee Member
Lee Mendoza	Committee Member
Wendy Jumonville	Committee Member

Keywords

digital
hearing aids

Date of Defense

2001-12-14

Availability

unrestricted

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to determine if objective and/or subjective differences between analog and digital hearing aids exist when blinding is utilized in the protocol and circuitry is controlled. Ten normal hearing and seven hearing impaired subjects were monaurally fitted with analog and digital hearing aids. Probe microphone measures were obtained at the plane of the tympanic membrane at two output levels (40 dB SPL and 70 dB SPL). Listener performance in quiet was evaluated via word recognition testing, listener performance in noise was evaluated via the Hearing in Noise Test, and listener preference was evaluated via a questionnaire. Results indicated similar performance for all objective and subjective tasks for both hearing aids with the exception of better performance in quiet at the 40 dB SPL presentation level with the analog hearing aid for the hearing impaired group. These results indicate that listeners performed as well or significantly better with the analog hearing aid than with the digital hearing aid. Furthermore, future investigation is recommended to evaluate the effectiveness of some features available on digital hearing aids that are not available on analog hearing aids, such as expansion and noise reduction.

Files

Filename		Size	Approximate Download Time (Hours:Minutes:Seconds)
Filename		Size	28.8 Modem	56K Modem	ISDN (64 Kb)	ISDN (128 Kb)	Higher-speed Access
	Lopez_thesis.pdf	120.53 Kb	00:00:33	00:00:17	00:00:15	00:00:07	< 00:00:01