Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Program, University of Ottawa , Ottawa, Ontario , Canada.
Int J Audiol. 2015 Feb;54 Suppl 1:S9-S18. doi: 10.3109/14992027.2014.973540. Epub 2014 Dec 30.
To determine the effects of different control settings of level-dependent hearing protectors on speech recognition performance in interaction with hearing loss.
Controlled laboratory experiment with two level-dependent devices (Peltor® PowerCom Plus™ and Nacre QuietPro®) in two military noises.
Word recognition scores were collected in protected and unprotected conditions for 45 participants grouped into four hearing profile categories ranging from within normal limits to moderate-to-severe hearing loss.
When the level-dependent mode was switched off to simulate conventional hearing protection, there were large differences across hearing profile categories regarding the effects of wearing the devices on speech recognition in noise; participants with normal hearing showed little effect while participants in the most hearing-impaired category showed large decrements in scores compared to unprotected listening. Activating the level-dependent mode of the devices produced large speech recognition benefits over the passive mode at both low and high gain pass-through settings. The category of participants with the most impaired hearing benefitted the most from the level-dependent mode.
The findings indicate that level-dependent hearing protection circuitry can provide substantial benefits in speech recognition performance in noise, compared to conventional passive protection, for individuals covering a wide range of hearing losses.
确定与听力损失相互作用时，不同水平依赖型听力保护器控制设置对言语识别性能的影响。
在两种军用噪声中，对两种水平依赖型设备（Peltor® PowerCom Plus™和 Nacre QuietPro®）进行对照实验室实验。
45 名参与者分为四个听力状况类别，从正常范围到中度至重度听力损失，在有保护和无保护条件下收集单词识别分数。
当水平依赖模式关闭以模拟传统听力保护时，佩戴设备对噪声中言语识别的影响在听力状况类别之间存在很大差异；听力正常的参与者影响较小，而听力受损最严重的参与者的得分与未受保护的听力相比，有较大的下降。与被动模式相比，在低增益和高增益通过设置下，设备的水平依赖模式产生了很大的言语识别益处。听力受损最严重的参与者受益最多。
研究结果表明，与传统的被动保护相比，水平依赖型听力保护电路在噪声中的言语识别性能方面可以提供实质性的益处，适用于涵盖广泛听力损失的个体。
