Assessment of Novel Sound Changing Principles in Hearing Instruments to Determine Their Application - 2019_20

The sound quality ratings will be assessed with the aid of a Multi-Stimulus Test. The data, serving as the primary outcome measure, are collected in the laboratory and will use a continuous rating scale. The scale ranges from 0 "very bad" to 100 "very good" in increments of 1.

A dual task paradigm will be used in which the Oldenburg Sentence test in noise will be administered as a primary task, and the subject will press a button as fast as possible when a light appears on a screen as a secondary task. The aim is to recall as many words from the presented sentence at a predefined SNR and press the button as fast as possible at the same time. The data derived, serving as secondary outcome measure are he Signal to noise ratio (SNR) in decibel (dB) where a 50% speech reception threshold is reached and the reaction time (RT) in seconds and the number of missed stimuli. and number of false alarms missed data rate.

Oldenburg Sentence test in noise will be administered as single task. The aim is to recall as many words from the presented sentence at different signal to noise ratios until the 50% threshold is reached. The data derived, serving as secondary outcome measure are the Signal to noise ratio (SNR) in decibel (dB) where a 50% speech reception threshold is reached.

The ACALES procedure determines self-reported individual listening effort on a scale from "extreme effort" to "no effort" within a signal-to-noise ratio range that corresponds to individual subject perceptions.

The data, serving as a secondary outcome, are a set of points on a categorial scale (subjectively perceived listening effort) as a function of different SNRs.

A qualitative questionnaire with predefined questions and comment sections to gather information on individual perceptions regarding the 3 experimental conditions to the active comparator ( see study arms/ interventions for detailed descriptions) during different laboratory-based complex acoustic scenes. The data collected from this questionnaire are scores on a continuous rating scale ranging from "0" (worst) to "10"( best).

The Trail Making Test is a neuropsychological test of visual attention and task switching. It consists of two parts in which the subject is instructed to connect a set of 25 dots as quickly as possible while still maintaining accuracy. The data, serving as an outcome measure, are time-to-complete the set in seconds.

The color-word- interference test ("Farb-Wort-Interferenztest nach J.R.Stroop" (version: "Günther Bäumler")) is a neuropsychological test of visual attention and interferer suppression and will be carried out in the laboratory. In the first trial, the subject has to read the names of colours written on a card as fast and accurately as possible. In the second trial, the subject has to name the colour ink of filled boxes on a card as quickly and accurately as possible. In the third trial, the names of colours are written on a card in a dissimilarly coloured ink. The participant must read aloud the written words, whilst ignoring the colour of the ink. The data, serving as an outcome measure, are time-to-complete the sets in seconds.