Speech recognition in noise using bilateral open-fit hearing aids: the limited benefit of directional microphones and noise reduction.

TLDR: The significant, though limited, advantage of directional microphones and the absence of additional significant improvement by a noise reduction algorithm should be considered when fitting open-fit hearing aids.

Abstract: To investigate speech recognition performance in noise with bilateral open-fi t hearing aids and as reference also with closed earmolds, in omnidirectional mode, directional mode, and directional mode in conjunction with noise reduction Design: A within-subject design with repeated measures across conditions was used Speech recognition thresholds in noise were obtained for the different conditions Study sample: Twenty adults without prior experience with hearing aids All had symmetric sensorineural mild hearing loss in the lower frequencies and moderate to severe hearing loss in the higher frequencies Results: Speech recognition performance in noise was not signifi cantly better with an omnidirectional microphone compared to unaided, whereas performance was signifi cantly better with a directional microphone (16 dB with open fi tting and 44 dB with closed earmold) compared to unaided With open fi tting, no signifi cant additional advantage was obtained by combining the directional microphone with a noise reduction algorithm, but with closed earmolds a signifi cant additional advantage of 08 dB was obtained Conclusions: The signifi cant, though limited, advantage of directional microphones and the absence of additional signifi cant improvement by a noise reduction algorithm should be considered when fi tting open-fi t hearing aids