The Effects of Frequency Lowering Function Hearing Aids onKorean Word Recognition Scores in the High Frequency Hearing Impaired

Abstract

The Effects of Frequency Lowering Function Hearing Aids on Korean Word Recognition Scores in the High Frequency Hearing Impaired Hyeonmin Ju, Hyoungjae Kim and Dukhwan Lim Starkey Bundang Hearing Care Center, Seongnam, Korea Division of Speech Pathology & Audiology, Hallym University, Chuncheon, Korea Research Institute of Audiology & Speech Pathology, Hallym University, Chuncheon, Korea The purpose of this study was to evaluate the initial outcomes of digital hearing aids with the new frequency lowering function (Spectral iQ, Starkey Laboratories). The performances were based on the pure tone thresholds and Korean word recognition scores for three elderly subjects (> 65 years of age) with high frequency hearing loss. The subjects were wearing hearing aids with Spectral iQ function for more than six months. In this case study, pure tone thresholds (PTA) and word recognition scores (WRS) were measured in three conditions: unaided, aided with Spectral iQ OFF, and aided with Spectral iQ ON. Results showed that both PTAs and WRSs were improved with Spectral iQ function in all three cases. In this preliminary step, frequency lowering function (Spectral iQ) appeared to be effective to some extent for those suffering from high frequency hearing loss.