Assessment of Novel Sound Changing Principles in Hearing Instruments to Determine Their Application - 2019_20
Condition: Hearing Loss
MeSH terms: Hearing Loss
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      A methodical evaluation of novel sound changing principles in CE-labelled Sonova brand
      hearing instruments (e.g. Phonak hearing instruments) is intended to be conducted on hearing
      impaired participants. These sound changing principles are enabled by respective hearing
      instrument technologies and hearing instrument algorithms. The aim of the study is to
      investigate and asses strength and weaknesses of these novel sound changing principles in
      terms of hearing performance to determine their application in hearing instruments (Phase of
      development). Both, objective laboratory measurements as well as subjective evaluations in
      real life environment will be carried out. This will be a controlled, single blinded and
      randomised active comparator clinical evaluation which will be conducted mono centric at
      Sonova AG Headquarter based in Stäfa
    


Intervention name(s): Hearing Aid with standard Noise Reduction (NR_1); Hearing Aid with NR_2; Hearing Aid with NR_3; Hearing Aid with NR_4
Intervention type(s): Device; Device; Device; Drug
Intervention description(s): Hearing Aid with standard Noise Reduction (NR) Each participant will be fitted with the 4 different Noise Reduction (Sound Changing) principles on the same hearing aid, saved to 4 manual programs (ensures exact same hearing loss compensation for each intervention). Noise Reduction principle is a sound processing algorithm to remove noise from a speech signal to improve the speech intelligibility and comfort. The active comparator condition is the state of the art Noise Reduction principle.; Each participant will be fitted with the 4 different Noise Reduction (Sound Changing) principles on the same hearing aid, saved to 4 manual programs. Noise Reduction principle is a sound processing algorithm to remove noise from a speech signal to improve the speech intelligibility and comfort. The experimental conditions (novel NR principle) vary in their parametrization to result in different degrees of noise suppression and good speech quality.; Each participant will be fitted with the 4 different Noise Reduction (Sound Changing) principles on the same hearing aid, saved to 4 manual programs. Noise Reduction principle is a sound processing algorithm to remove noise from a speech signal to improve the speech intelligibility and comfort. The experimental conditions (novel NR principle) vary in their parametrization to result in different degrees of noise suppression and good speech quality.; Each participant will be fitted with the 4 different Noise Reduction (Sound Changing) principles on the same hearing aid, saved to 4 manual programs. Noise Reduction principle is a sound processing algorithm to remove noise from a speech signal to improve the speech intelligibility and comfort. This experimental condition combines standard NR and novel NR principle to result in different degrees of noise suppression and good speech quality.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Crossover Assignment
Intervention model description: Each participant will be treated with each sound changing principle (Noise Reduction principle (NR)) in a randomized order.
Masking: Single (Participant)
Primary purpose: Treatment