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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Neurosci.
Sec. Auditory Cognitive Neuroscience
Volume 18 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnins.2024.1475122

Improving Speech Intelligibility in Noise and Spatial Perception: The Critical Role of Hearing Aid Microphone Position

Provisionally accepted
Eyyup KARA Eyyup KARA 1*Nurşah Özal Nurşah Özal 1Burcu Deniz Burcu Deniz 2Rışvan Deniz Rışvan Deniz 3Kübra Aydın Kübra Aydın 1Cenk Caba Cenk Caba 4Bahar Begüm Bahar Begüm 5
  • 1 Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa, Istanbul, Türkiye
  • 2 Eskişehir Osmangazi University, Eskişehir, Eskişehir, Türkiye
  • 3 Koç University Hospital, Istanbul, Türkiye
  • 4 Earnet Hearing System Corporation, İstanbul, Türkiye
  • 5 Basaksehir Cam and Sakura City Hospital, Istanbul, Türkiye

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Hearing aid (HA) manufacturers have designed new models of behind-the-ear (BTE) in which the microphone is positioned in the ear canal. Depending on the microphone position, the HA style has the potential to affect auditory performance because it may distort the pinna's acoustic cues. This study aimed to compare two different BTE HAs with different microphone positions: the receiver in the ear (RITE) and the transducer in the ear (TIE). The study included 10 participants who had never used HA before. Participants were allowed to use the HAs bilaterally for 3 weeks, and free field hearing assessments (including hearing thresholds with HA, speech recognition threshold, and speech discrimination score), the Turkish Matrix Sentence Test (TURMatrix), sound localization test, and the Satisfaction with Amplification in Daily Living (SADL) questionnaire were performed. There was no significant difference between the free field hearing assessment results with TIE and RITE. Nonadaptive TURMatrix scores in quiet and adaptive TURMatrix scores in noise were significantly better with TIE. Additionally, localization accuracy at different angles was better with the TIE. Sub-scores of SADL (Positive Effect, Service and Cost, and Personal Image) and global scores were significantly better for TIE. In conclusion, the microphone position of a HA can affect the user's auditory performance. The results of the current study showed that speech intelligibility, localization accuracy, and HA satisfaction with the TIE were better than RITE.

    Keywords: hearing aid, Speech Intelligibility, auditory localization, Hearing aid satisfaction, Microphone location

    Received: 02 Aug 2024; Accepted: 03 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 KARA, Özal, Deniz, Deniz, Aydın, Caba and Begüm. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Eyyup KARA, Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa, Istanbul, Türkiye

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.