526847
research-article2014
AORXXX10.1177/0003489414526847Annals of Otology, Rhinology & LaryngologyKim et al
Article
Effect of a Bluetooth-Implemented Hearing Aid on Speech Recognition Performance: Subjective and Objective Measurement
Annals of Otology, Rhinology & Laryngology 2014, Vol. 123(6) 395–401 © The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0003489414526847 aor.sagepub.com
Min-Beom Kim, MD1, Won-Ho Chung, MD, PhD2, Jeesun Choi, MD2, Sung Hwa Hong, MD, PhD2, Yang-Sun Cho, MD, PhD2, Gyuseok Park, MS3, and Sangmin Lee, PhD3
Abstract Objectives: The object was to evaluate speech perception improvement through Bluetooth-implemented hearing aids in hearing-impaired adults. Methods: Thirty subjects with bilateral symmetric moderate sensorineural hearing loss participated in this study. A Bluetooth-implemented hearing aid was fitted unilaterally in all study subjects. Objective speech recognition score and subjective satisfaction were measured with a Bluetooth-implemented hearing aid to replace the acoustic connection from either a cellular phone or a loudspeaker system. In each system, participants were assigned to 4 conditions: wireless speech signal transmission into hearing aid (wireless mode) in quiet or noisy environment and conventional speech signal transmission using external microphone of hearing aid (conventional mode) in quiet or noisy environment. Also, participants completed questionnaires to investigate subjective satisfaction. Results: Both cellular phone and loudspeaker system situation, participants showed improvements in sentence and word recognition scores with wireless mode compared to conventional mode in both quiet and noise conditions (P < .001). Participants also reported subjective improvements, including better sound quality, less noise interference, and better accuracy naturalness, when using the wireless mode (P < .001). Conclusions: Bluetooth-implemented hearing aids helped to improve subjective and objective speech recognition performances in quiet and noisy environments during the use of electronic audio devices. Keywords Bluetooth, hearing aid, wireless, noise, speech intelligibility Despite the large prevalence of hearing impairment in human populations, the uptake of hearing aids is still poor. Although several reasons exist for the lack of hearing aid use, Kochkin1 reported that patients buy but do not use hearing aids because they perceive that hearing aids do not work with the telephone. In addition, approximately 25% of older hearing aid users do not report satisfaction with their hearing aids for television viewing.2 Telephone listening with a hearing aid using simple acoustic coupling is difficult because feedback often occurs when the telephone receiver gets close to the hearing aid. Although advances in feedback reduction algorithms have decreased the annoying feedback, it remains problematic, particularly for listeners who require significant gain.3,4 Therefore, several studies have been conducted to examine wireless connections between the telephone and hearing aids to improve speech intelligibility and to reduce problematic feedback.5
Recently, Bluetooth technology was developed and widely used in real life. It allows wireless communication between electronic devices with short-range wireless radio technology to connect devices with each other. These wireless technologies are developing in the hearing aid industry, 1
Department of Otorhinolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea 2 Department of Otorhinolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea 3 Department of Electronic Engineering, Inha University, Incheon, Korea Corresponding Author: Won-Ho Chung, MD, PhD, Department of Otorhinolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, 50 Irwon-dong Kangnam-gu, Seoul, Korea. Email: [email protected]
Downloaded from aor.sagepub.com at GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY on April 30, 2015
396
Annals of Otology, Rhinology & Laryngology 123(6)
and many commercially enabled hearing aids have been developed. The purpose of our study is to evaluate the advantage of Bluetooth-implemented hearing aids by unilateral fitting. We analyzed improvement in word recognition and sentence recognition scores by wireless transmission in either a cellular phone or loudspeaker system usage at presence or absence of noise. We also evaluated the subjective satisfaction of Bluetooth-implemented hearing aid by analyzing participants’ responses on a satisfaction questionnaire.
Methods Participants A total of 30 Korean hearing-impaired adults participated in this study. This study’s protocol was approved by the institutional review board. Fifteen males and 15 females were included, and all subjects had moderate (average from 40 to 55 dB), symmetric (
research-article2014
AORXXX10.1177/0003489414526847Annals of Otology, Rhinology & LaryngologyKim et al
Article
Effect of a Bluetooth-Implemented Hearing Aid on Speech Recognition Performance: Subjective and Objective Measurement
Annals of Otology, Rhinology & Laryngology 2014, Vol. 123(6) 395–401 © The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0003489414526847 aor.sagepub.com
Min-Beom Kim, MD1, Won-Ho Chung, MD, PhD2, Jeesun Choi, MD2, Sung Hwa Hong, MD, PhD2, Yang-Sun Cho, MD, PhD2, Gyuseok Park, MS3, and Sangmin Lee, PhD3
Abstract Objectives: The object was to evaluate speech perception improvement through Bluetooth-implemented hearing aids in hearing-impaired adults. Methods: Thirty subjects with bilateral symmetric moderate sensorineural hearing loss participated in this study. A Bluetooth-implemented hearing aid was fitted unilaterally in all study subjects. Objective speech recognition score and subjective satisfaction were measured with a Bluetooth-implemented hearing aid to replace the acoustic connection from either a cellular phone or a loudspeaker system. In each system, participants were assigned to 4 conditions: wireless speech signal transmission into hearing aid (wireless mode) in quiet or noisy environment and conventional speech signal transmission using external microphone of hearing aid (conventional mode) in quiet or noisy environment. Also, participants completed questionnaires to investigate subjective satisfaction. Results: Both cellular phone and loudspeaker system situation, participants showed improvements in sentence and word recognition scores with wireless mode compared to conventional mode in both quiet and noise conditions (P < .001). Participants also reported subjective improvements, including better sound quality, less noise interference, and better accuracy naturalness, when using the wireless mode (P < .001). Conclusions: Bluetooth-implemented hearing aids helped to improve subjective and objective speech recognition performances in quiet and noisy environments during the use of electronic audio devices. Keywords Bluetooth, hearing aid, wireless, noise, speech intelligibility Despite the large prevalence of hearing impairment in human populations, the uptake of hearing aids is still poor. Although several reasons exist for the lack of hearing aid use, Kochkin1 reported that patients buy but do not use hearing aids because they perceive that hearing aids do not work with the telephone. In addition, approximately 25% of older hearing aid users do not report satisfaction with their hearing aids for television viewing.2 Telephone listening with a hearing aid using simple acoustic coupling is difficult because feedback often occurs when the telephone receiver gets close to the hearing aid. Although advances in feedback reduction algorithms have decreased the annoying feedback, it remains problematic, particularly for listeners who require significant gain.3,4 Therefore, several studies have been conducted to examine wireless connections between the telephone and hearing aids to improve speech intelligibility and to reduce problematic feedback.5
Recently, Bluetooth technology was developed and widely used in real life. It allows wireless communication between electronic devices with short-range wireless radio technology to connect devices with each other. These wireless technologies are developing in the hearing aid industry, 1
Department of Otorhinolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea 2 Department of Otorhinolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea 3 Department of Electronic Engineering, Inha University, Incheon, Korea Corresponding Author: Won-Ho Chung, MD, PhD, Department of Otorhinolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, 50 Irwon-dong Kangnam-gu, Seoul, Korea. Email: [email protected]
Downloaded from aor.sagepub.com at GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY on April 30, 2015
396
Annals of Otology, Rhinology & Laryngology 123(6)
and many commercially enabled hearing aids have been developed. The purpose of our study is to evaluate the advantage of Bluetooth-implemented hearing aids by unilateral fitting. We analyzed improvement in word recognition and sentence recognition scores by wireless transmission in either a cellular phone or loudspeaker system usage at presence or absence of noise. We also evaluated the subjective satisfaction of Bluetooth-implemented hearing aid by analyzing participants’ responses on a satisfaction questionnaire.
Methods Participants A total of 30 Korean hearing-impaired adults participated in this study. This study’s protocol was approved by the institutional review board. Fifteen males and 15 females were included, and all subjects had moderate (average from 40 to 55 dB), symmetric (
