Hearing aid fine-tuning based on Dutch descriptions

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to derive an independent fitting assistant based on expert consensus. Two questions were asked: (1) what (Dutch) terms do hearing impaired listeners use nowadays to describe their specific hearing aid fitting problems? (2) What is the expert consensus on how to resolve these complaints by adjusting hearing aid parameters?

Design: Hearing aid dispensers provided descriptors that impaired listeners use to describe their reactions to specific hearing aid fitting problems. Hearing aid fitting experts were asked "How would you adjust the hearing aid if its user reports that the aid sounds…?" with the blank filled with each of the 40 most frequently mentioned descriptors.

Study sample: 112 hearing aid dispensers and 15 hearing aid experts. The expert solution with the highest weight value was considered the best solution for that descriptor. Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed to identify a factor structure in fitting problems.

Results: Nine fitting problems could be identified resulting in an expert-based, hearing aid manufacturer independent, fine-tuning fitting assistant for clinical use.

Conclusions: The construction of an expert-based, hearing aid manufacturer independent, fine-tuning fitting assistant to be used as an additional tool in the iterative fitting process is feasible.

Keywords: Fine-tuning; assistive technology; fitting assistant; hearing aids; hearing aids satisfaction; instrumentation.