J Acoust Soc Am. 1991 Aug;90(2 Pt 1):637-83.
Both the overall aging of the population and its exposure to higher noise levels have increased the tendency to hearing loss and the importance of improved hearing aids for speech perception. This article reviews improvements in conventional electroacoustic hearing aids, as well as recently developed alternative classes of speech-perception aids, including surgically implanted cochlear stimulators, and vibrotactile, electrocutaneous and optical stimulating devices. It is concluded that the most effective aid for the vast majority of hearing-impaired persons is, and will remain for the immediate future, the electroacoustic hearing aid. In those cases for which no benefit is demonstrated for the electroacoustic aid, generally meaning persons with profound hearing loss, either the cochlear implant or a tactile aid may provide some improvement in the understanding of speech. In rare cases, some speech understanding in the absence of lip reading is achieved by patients with cochlear implants, for unexplained reasons. This and other pressing questions about speech processing need to be addressed by the research community if more effective aids are to be developed for the use of the 36.5 million hearing-impaired persons expected in the U.S. by the year 2050.
人口的整体老龄化以及人们暴露于更高噪音水平的情况，都增加了听力损失的倾向，也凸显了改进助听器以提高言语感知能力的重要性。本文回顾了传统电声助听器的改进情况，以及最近开发的其他类型的言语感知辅助设备，包括外科植入式耳蜗刺激器、振动触觉、电皮肤和光学刺激设备。结论是，对于绝大多数听力受损者来说，最有效的辅助设备过去是、在可预见的未来仍将是电声助听器。在那些电声助听器未显示出益处的情况下，通常指重度听力损失者，耳蜗植入或触觉辅助设备可能会在一定程度上改善言语理解。在极少数情况下，耳蜗植入患者能在不看唇语的情况下实现一定程度的言语理解，原因不明。如果要为预计到2050年美国将出现的3650万听力受损者开发出更有效的辅助设备，研究界就需要解决这个问题以及其他有关言语处理的紧迫问题。
