Gabrielle H. Saunders
Kathleen M. Cienkowski
Audiology 126), Veterans Admin. Med. Ctr., East Orange, NJ 07019
The Articulation Index (AI) was developed as a method for predicting speech recognition performance from objective measurements. It should therefore be an efficient method for predicting and comparing potential user benefit from different hearing aids. In this study subjects wore six different hearing aid fittings for 3 months each. Performance on a number of speech tests was measured at the start and end of each 3-month period and self-rated satisfaction with each hearing aid was assessed. AIs for each hearing aid fitting were calculated from real ear aided gains. The relationship between the AIs, performance, and satisfaction will be presented and the efficacy of using the AI as a predictor of performance and satisfaction will be discussed.