Re: Hearing aid owner dissatisfaction

["Maher, Rob" <rmaher@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

After seeing that (1) and (2) are related to hearing aid performance, I
wonder if there has been any research comparing the  true potential
available benefit from a high performance signal processing system vs. the
market-driven low-power BTE and ITE hearing instruments.

Specifically, I have a hunch that better performance might be available
using off-the-shelf signal processing elements rather than trying to make
everything fit in a thimble and run on 1.2V.  The user might then be able to
tune the device using training sessions on a PC.  Are there laboratory
research systems that give users more benefit than what is available on the
market?

The anecdotes I hear are that users wouldn't mind wearing a Walkman-style
headset and belt-mounted processor if the hearing aid actually provided
sufficient benefit.  The tacit reason users want hidden devices is that they
don't really work too well and therefore people are embarrassed to be seen
as "impaired".  We seem to have overcome the social stigma of eyeglasses
(arguably because they work!).

Rob Maher
Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Montana State University-Bozeman
rob.maher@montana.edu


Brent Edwards wrote:
> From an article published in 2000 on the hearing aid in the drawer
> phenomenon, the top 20 reasons why hearing aid owners don't use their
> hearing aids are:
>
> 1. Poor benefit
> 2. Background noise/noisy situations
...