Efficacy of Digital Noise Reduction Strategies: A Hearing Aid Trial

The first goal of this project is to examine the efficacy of digital hearing aids incorporating three noise reduction strategies (i.e., directional microphones alone vs. directional microphones with DSP noise reduction algorithm 1 vs. directional microphones with DSP noise reduction algorithm 2) in terms of both speech understanding outcomes and functional outcomes. The second goal is to identify individual characteristics that are predictive of successful functional outcomes with hearing aids. This study employs a multi-site, randomized, blinded, 2x2 factorial parallel group design. Three hundred subjects will be studied at three VA Medical Centers (Mountain Home, TN; Bay Pines, FL; and Los Angeles, CA) over a period of three years. Objective (word recognition ability and performance with degraded speech stimuli) subjective (self-assessment questionnaires, personality and depression assessments) and cost-effectiveness assessments will be measured for 4 randomized treatment groups receiving different digital hearing aid technology. Subjects will be randomly assigned to wear hearing aids with directional microphones alone or directional microphones with noise reduction algorithm 1 or directional microphones with noise reduction algorithm 2 for a period of 8 weeks. Subjects will complete post-testing after 8 weeks of hearing aid use.