ABSTRACTS
This article summarizes several recent studies of directional microphone hearing aid
performance in everyday living conducted at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. It is
clear that the directional benefit typically observed in controlled clinical testing
often is not realized in ordinary listening situations. This is due, at least in part,
to a variety of acoustic factors frequently encountered in everyday listening environments
that disrupt the effectiveness of the directional processing. As a result, patients
will not detect a significant performance difference between omnidirectional and directional
processing in many everyday listening situations and, as a further result, some patients
fit with switchable omnidirectional/directional hearing aids will eventually opt not
to use the directional mode. Nevertheless, directional microphones can provide a significant
benefit to patients under certain environmental conditions and most patients learn
to identify ordinary listening situations where directional processing is distinctly
preferred to omnidirectional processing. This is most likely to occur when background
noise is present and the signal of interest is in front of and relatively near to
the listener.
KEYWORDS
Hearing aid - omnidirectional microphone - directional microphone - everyday living
- microphone preference
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Brian E WaldenPh.D.
Army Audiology & Speech Center, Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue, NW
Washington, DC, 20307-5001
Email: brian.walden@na.amedd.army.mil