Wear-Time Trial for Self-Fitting Hearing Aid

The APHAB is a 24-item self-assessment of the amount of trouble the respondent has with communication in everyday situations. Sample question: "When I'm at the dinner table with several people, and I am trying to have a conversation with one person, understanding speech is difficult." For each of the 24 items, person asked to select one of the following percentages to indicate how frequently this occurs: Always (99%); Almost Always (87%); Generally (75%); Half-the-time (50%); Occasionally (25%); Seldom (12%); or Never (1%). Mean scale scores are expressed as a percentage or proportion representing the average frequency of difficulty experienced. An APHAB global score based on the 18 items from the three speech-communication subscales was used in the statistical analyses. APHAB scores were obtained unaided (Visit 1) and following use of the hearing aids for 10-14 days for each fit (Visits 2 & 3; aided). The primary outcome is the mean difference in aided scores, Self-Fit minus Pro-Fit.

The QuickSIN test consists of lists of six sentences played from a loudspeaker at a constant level approximating typical conversation. The level of the co-located four-talker babble (background noise) increased across the six sentences for signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) ranging from +25 to 0 decibels (dB) SNR (in steps of 5 dB). The participant was asked to repeat each sentence. The examiner scored predetermined key words in each sentence. The resulting score was interpreted as an SNR loss in dB where a value near 0 dB indicates normal hearing and larger values indicate more difficulty listening in noise. The QuickSIN SNR values for the Pro-Fit condition were subtracted from those for the Self-Fit condition to generate a difference value in dB between the two fitting methods. The secondary outcome measure evaluated here was the mean difference in QuickSIN SNR values in dB between Pro-Fit and Self-Fit for all 37 participants; 19 Pro-Fit first and 18 Self-Fit first.