Variability In Hearing Aid Outcomes In Older Adults

Characterizing Variability in Hearing Aid Outcomes Among Older Adults

The goal of this project is to find out if the way a hearing aid processes a sound signal should be determined in part by an individual's cognitive characteristics. We anticipate that the outcome of this work will be a battery of assessments that will guide hearing aid processing for older patients with hearing loss.

Response to hearing aids is highly variable, with some individuals reporting much more benefit than others. Preliminary work by our laboratory and others suggests that patient factors-including cognition-may contribute to differences in how individuals respond to altered speech cues, such as those alterations introduced by hearing aid processing. The long-term goal of this work is to improve hearing aid outcomes by optimizing hearing aid processing for each individual.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Sensorineural Hearing loss with pure-tone thresholds 25-70 dB HL at octave frequencies between 250 and 4000 Hz, 4 frequency PTA of ≥ 30 dB HL
• Non hearing aided wearer within the previous year
• Participants will be in good health (self-report)
• Normal or corrected to normal vision(≤20/50)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Conductive, or asymmetric hearing loss
• Hearing loss exceeding the limits that can be successfully aided with hearing aids (i.e., profound hearing loss)
• Hearing loss remediated with a cochlear implant (cannot wear hearing aids)
• Significant history of otologic or neurologic disorders
• Non English speaking participants
• Score of 23 or below on Mini-Mental Status Exam (MMSE)
• Score of 22 or below on Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA)
• Any clinically significant unstable or progressive medical condition
• Any condition which, in the opinion of the investigator, places the participant at unacceptable risk if he or she were to participate in the study.
• Participants will be divided into low and high working groups based upon the results of their Lunner working memory reading span test. Once either high or low working memory group is filled (approximately 25 participants) we will selectively enroll participants to fill the other category.