Zhang Yi, Chen Jing, Zhang Yanmei, Sun Baoxuan, Liu Yuhe
Plastic Surgery Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
School of Electronics Engineering and Computer Science, Peking University, Beijing, China.
Front Aging Neurosci. 2022 Jun 30;14:869338. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2022.869338. eCollection 2022.
This study aimed to select the optimal hearing aid compression speeds (fast-acting and slow-acting) for presbycusic patients by using auditory characteristics including temporal modulation and speech-in-noise performance.
In total, 24 patients with unilateral or bilateral moderate sensorineural hearing loss who scored higher than 21 on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) test participated in this study. The electrocochleogram (ECochG) results, including summating potentials (SP) and action potentials (AP), were recorded. Subjects' temporal modulation thresholds and speech recognition at 4 individualized signal-to-noise ratios were measured under three conditions, namely, unaided, aided with fast-acting compression (FAC), and aided with slow-acting compression (SAC).
The results of this study showed that modulation discrimination thresholds in the unaided (-8.14 dB) and aided SAC (-8.19 dB) conditions were better than the modulation thresholds in the FAC (-4.67 dB) conditions. The speech recognition threshold (SRT75%) for FAC (5.21 dB) did not differ significantly from SAC (3.39 dB) ( = 0.12). A decision tree analysis showed that the inclusion of the AP, unaided modulation thresholds, and unaided SRT75% may correctly identify the optimal compression speeds (FAC vs. SAC) for individual presbycusic patients with up to 90% accuracy.
Both modes of compression speeds improved a presbycusic patient's speech recognition ability in noise. The SAC hearing aids may better preserve the modulation thresholds than the FAC hearing aids. The measurement of AP, along with the unaided modulation thresholds and unaided SRT75%, may help guide the selection of optimal compression speeds for individual presbycusic patients.
本研究旨在通过利用包括时间调制和噪声中言语表现等听觉特征，为老年聋患者选择最佳的助听器压缩速度（快速作用和慢速作用）。
共有24例单侧或双侧中度感音神经性听力损失且蒙特利尔认知评估（MoCA）测试得分高于21分的患者参与了本研究。记录了耳蜗电图（ECochG）结果，包括总和电位（SP）和动作电位（AP）。在三种条件下测量了受试者的时间调制阈值和在4种个体化信噪比下的言语识别率，这三种条件分别为：未佩戴助听器、佩戴快速作用压缩（FAC）助听器以及佩戴慢速作用压缩（SAC）助听器。
本研究结果表明，未佩戴助听器（-8.14 dB）和佩戴SAC助听器（-8.19 dB）条件下的调制辨别阈值优于FAC（-4.67 dB）条件下的调制阈值。FAC的言语识别阈值（SRT75%）（5.21 dB）与SAC（3.39 dB）相比无显著差异（P = 0.12）。决策树分析表明，纳入AP、未佩戴助听器时的调制阈值以及未佩戴助听器时的SRT75%，可能以高达90%的准确率正确识别个体老年聋患者的最佳压缩速度（FAC与SAC）。
两种压缩速度模式均改善了老年聋患者在噪声中的言语识别能力。与FAC助听器相比，SAC助听器可能能更好地保留调制阈值。测量AP，以及未佩戴助听器时的调制阈值和未佩戴助听器时的SRT75%，可能有助于指导为个体老年聋患者选择最佳压缩速度。
