Subjective Evaluation of a Sound Processing Method for Hearing Aids on Auditory Distance Perception

Subjects fulfilling all of the following inclusion criteria are eligible for the study:

• Willing and able to give written informed consent as documented by signature,
• French-native adult speakers,
• (Preferably) younger than 60 y.o.

For all normal-hearing participants:

• Hearing thresholds lower or equal to 20 dB on both ears, as ensured by a pure-tone audiometry (125 Hz to 8 kHz) conducted at the beginning of the session.

For all hearing-impaired patients:

• Patients of Mr. Philippe Estoppey, private audiologist settled in Lausanne,
• User of bilateral BTE Phonak hearing aids, commercialized after July 2012, with fittings that did not change over the last three months,
• Presenting a severe-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss,
• Presenting a symmetrical hearing loss (no bilateral hearing threshold that differ by more than 20 dB at any audiometric frequency (125 Hz - 4 kHz)).

For HI patients experienced with remote microphone systems:

• Past or present users of FM and/or Roger devices for more than six months.

For other HI patients:

• No past or present experience with FM and/or Roger devices for more than one month.

The presence of any one of the following exclusion criteria will lead to exclusion of the participant:

• Collaborator of the laboratory (LTS2) or student attending the courses of audio and acoustics given by the laboratory staff (EE-348 Electroacoustics, EE-548 Audio Engineering),
• History of chronic or terminal illness, psychiatric disturbance, senile dementia, or cognitive impairment,
• History of strong tinnitus and/or hyperacusis,
• Strong visual impairment after correction with glasses or not,
• History of epilepsy or other reactions associated with the proximity to a screen,
• Motor disability that would disturb their presence at EPFL.