Amplification and Assistive Devices (AAD)
Kristi A. Oeding, AuD/PhD (she/her/hers)
Assistant Professor/Audiologist
Minnesota State University, Mankato
Minnesota State University, Mankato
Lake Crystal, Minnesota
Financial Disclosures: I do not have any relevant financial relationships with anything to disclose.
Non-Financial Disclosures: I am an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota; I have received financial help for this dissertation work through the following organizations: Torske Klubben, CAPCSD PhD Scholarship, Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship (University of Minnesota), Council of Graduate Students (University of Minnesota), Federal CARES II Degree Completion grant
Evelyn EMO Davies-Venn, AuD., PhD
Academic Faculty
University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Financial Disclosures: I do not have any relevant financial relationships with anything to disclose.
Non-Financial Disclosures: I do not have any relevant non-financial relationships with anything to disclose.
Peggy Nelson, PhD (she/her/hers)
Professor
University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Financial Disclosures: I do not have any relevant financial relationships with anything to disclose.
Non-Financial Disclosures: I do not have any relevant non-financial relationships with anything to disclose.
Rationale/
Purpose: One of the most common concerns of patients wearing hearing aids is difficulty hearing speech in noise and tolerating noise. Although hearing aid features such as directional microphones and noise reduction help to alleviate these complaints, speech understanding and listening comfort in noise are still problematic for hearing aid users. Hearing aid use a multi-faceted problem and the focus of this research was on the concerns of background noise, specifically noise tolerance. Several studies have suggested that individual factors such as personality (Franklin et al., 2013; Huber & Johnson, 2021; Mackersie et al., 2021; Nichols & Gordon-Hickey, 2012) and working memory (Brännström et al., 2012) may impact a person’s tolerance to noise. If we can further understand which individual factors impact noise tolerance, we can predict who will be more susceptible to noise tolerance concerns and determine if these factors can be manipulated to improve hearing aid use in background noise. The purpose of this study was to build off of previous research examining factors that could impact noise tolerance in a group of adult hearing aid users. We examined the relationship of individual factors such as personality, preferences for background noise, aided benefit, working memory, hearing thresholds, and speech in noise thresholds with a hearing aid user’s aided acceptable noise level. Based on these relationships, we determined if there were any variables that could explain a hearing aid user’s tolerance for background noise.
Methods: Twenty-one adult hearing aids were recruited. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, all testing was completed remotely. Individual factors that were evaluated using questionnaires included personality and noise tolerance. Cognitive factors were evaluated using a reading span task. Hearing factors were evaluated using a questionnaire about hearing aid performance, an audiogram, and a digits in noise task. Finally, an individual’s noise tolerance was evaluated using the Acceptable Noise Level test. Data was collected remotely using questionnaires and portable research equipment that was dropped off at the participant's home.
Results &
Conclusions: A Lasso regression analysis was used to evaluate which factors impacted the variance seen in the Acceptable Noise Level test. Results revealed that a subscale evaluating listening effort and the digits in noise task had the greatest impact on prediction of an individual’s acceptable noise level. These results will be used in future studies to determine which individual factors can be manipulated to improve a hearing aid user’s acceptable noise levels with the ultimate goal of increasing a hearing aid user’s ability to wear their hearing aids in background noise. In addition to the results of this test, the benefits and disadvantages of remote research testing will be discussed.