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J Am Acad Audiol 2018; 29(04): 273-278
DOI: 10.3766/jaaa.16086
Articles
Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Effect of Adaptive Compression and Fast-Acting WDRC Strategies on Sentence Recognition in Noise in Mandarin-Speaking Pediatric Hearing Aid Users

Authors

  • Haihong Liu

    *   Beijing Key Laboratory for Pediatric Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Science, Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Pediatric Research Institute, Beijing Children’s Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
    †   These authors contributed equally to the work

  • Yuanhu Liu

    *   Beijing Key Laboratory for Pediatric Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Science, Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Pediatric Research Institute, Beijing Children’s Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
    †   These authors contributed equally to the work

  • Ying Li

    *   Beijing Key Laboratory for Pediatric Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Science, Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Pediatric Research Institute, Beijing Children’s Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China

  • Xin Jin

    *   Beijing Key Laboratory for Pediatric Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Science, Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Pediatric Research Institute, Beijing Children’s Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China

  • Jing Li

    *   Beijing Key Laboratory for Pediatric Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Science, Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Pediatric Research Institute, Beijing Children’s Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China

  • Yi Zhou

    *   Beijing Key Laboratory for Pediatric Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Science, Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Pediatric Research Institute, Beijing Children’s Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China

  • Wentong Ge

    *   Beijing Key Laboratory for Pediatric Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Science, Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Pediatric Research Institute, Beijing Children’s Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China

  • Xin Ni

    *   Beijing Key Laboratory for Pediatric Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Science, Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Pediatric Research Institute, Beijing Children’s Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
Further Information

Publication History

Publication Date:
29 May 2020 (online)

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Abstract

Background:

Wide dynamic range compression (WDRC) has been widely used in hearing aid technology. However, several reports indicate that WDRC may improve audibility at the expense of speech intelligibility. As such, a modified amplification compression scheme, named adaptive compression, was developed. However, the effect of compression strategies on speech perception in pediatric hearing aid users has not been clearly reported.

Purpose:

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of adaptive compression and fast-acting WDRC processing strategies on sentence recognition in noise with Mandarin, pediatric hearing aid users.

Research Design:

This study was set up using a double-blind, within-subject, repeated-measures design.

Study Sample:

Twenty-six children who spoke Mandarin Chinese as their primary language and had bilateral sensorineural hearing loss participated in the study.

Data Collection and Analysis:

Sentence recognition in noise was evaluated in behind-the-ear technology with both adaptive compression processing and fast-acting WDRC processing and was selected randomly for each child. Percent correct sentence recognition in noise with fast-acting WDRC and adaptive compression was collected from each participant. Correlation analysis was performed to examine the effect of gender, age at assessment, and hearing threshold of the better ear on signal-to-noise ratio, and a paired-samples t test was employed to compare the performance of the adaptive compression strategy and fast-acting WDRC processing.

Results:

The mean percentage correct of sentence recognition in noise with behind-the-ear technology with fast-acting WDRC and adaptive compression processing were 62.24% and 68.71%, respectively. The paired-samples t test showed that the performance of the adaptive compression strategy was significantly better than the fast-acting WDRC processing (t = 3.190, p = 0.004).

Conclusions:

Compared with the fast-acting WDRC, adaptive compression provided better sentence recognition in noise for Mandarin pediatric hearing aid users.

Key Words

adaptive compression - children - hearing aid - noise - sentence recognition - WDRC

This research was supported by special funding of the Beijing Municipal Administration of Hospitals Clinical Medicine Development (XMLX201514) and the Beijing NOVA Program (xx2014B059, xxjc201716).