Adapting the “first fit” experience to be more reflective of a patient’s gradual hearing loss experience and providing for a gradual transition allows the auditory system to receive, process, and accept sounds that have been missing.
The RRT is an integrated speech test that provides a platform for individualized counseling. The goal is to provide a better understanding of each patient’s communication difficulties, then use that understanding to set realistic expectations. We believe the use of this tool, along with other tools that allow individualized fine-tuning, could help promote greater patient satisfaction for hearing aids.
In a conversation with Bose Hearing leaders this week, it became clear that Bose would be borrowing some aspects of their Hearphone technology but not using it as the Bose Hearing Aid. The company views the de novo application as being primarily focused on direct-to-consumer (DTC) distribution, although they do have an interest in the professional channel, and the product is still some ways from becoming available to consumers.
Choosing a closed hearing aid coupling system can positively effect speech understanding in background noise—although, for some patients, at the sacrifice of own-voice sound quality. However, new systems like Signia Own Voice Processing (OVP) are making it possible to “get the best of both worlds.” The mean SNR additional benefit for a closed fitting in this study was 3 dB, and as much as 5 dB for some participants. With as much as 17% improvement in speech understanding for each 1 dB of SNR improvement, this can represent a magnitude sufficient to be able to change a patient’s socialization activities.
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Lantos Technologies, announced the US release of the industry’s “only FDA, 510(K) cleared,” 3D ear scanning system. The system will be on display next week at the upcoming AAA Convention in Columbus, Ohio.
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According to Hearing Tracker, the new service will allow audiologists and hearing aid dispensers to offer standardized, discount hearing aid bundles directly to customers within a localized area.
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This may sound like a cheap romantic novel or a new soap opera but “area over love” is an important acoustic principle that rears its romantic head in a number of clinical scenarios that are encountered, almost every day.
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Feel like the year slipped away from you too quickly? Here’s a roundup of the top news items featured in ‘The Hearing Review’ during 2018.
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OTC hearing devices are coming, but how should they function and for whom should they be recommended? Drs Ron Leavitt, Ruth Bentler, and Carol Flexer present six case studies showing that people with true moderate hearing loss may not be well served by what has been characterized as a “consumer-decides” model of care.
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Overall, the findings of this study demonstrate that the two new CROS/BiCROS systems from Signia—the Pure 312 Nx CROS with Narrow directionality and the Silk Nx CROS—provide a superior solution to the daily listening problems encountered by people with SSD.
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On October 5, the FDA granted De Novo status to Bose Corporation for a self-fitting hearing aid for mild-to-moderate hearing loss.
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Several “autoREMfit” systems have been developed to assist in hearing aid fittings. This article evaluates a new fit-to-target platform, Audioscan’s VerifitLINK, that could be integrated into any manufacturer’s software, and documents its performance in target matching during hearing aid fitting.
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The FDA has concluded that the Bose Hearing Aid should be classified as a Class II device under the generic name “self-fitting air-conduction hearing aid,” according to an October 5 letter from the Agency. Accordingly, Bose is free to market the device immediately subject to general provisions and special controls required by FDA. Subsequent applications for a self-fitting hearing aid will need to undergo premarket notification requirements, according to the Agency.
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Now that we’ve defined (at minimum) what an OTC hearing device should look like, maybe it’s time to start defining a minimal standard for what a professional hearing aid fitting should look like.
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Valente et al found that 79% of the study participants preferred the programmed fittings using REM versus the first-fit. They conclude that “Using a first-fit alone without reprogramming using REM is fitting hearing aids blindly and not determining whether the patient is being provided appropriate audibility for soft and average speech…The audiologist or hearing aid dispenser can never be certain if he/she is appropriately fitting the patient without using REM.”
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Dr Van Vliet explains a recent clinical encounter in which the patient ultimately had an initially grudging, but eventually open, embrace and acceptance of his amplification.
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This article offers a brief review of select audiological literature related to follow-up visits and their importance, common activities, and best practices, and also presents a field study that examines, in detail, one practice’s follow-ups and outcomes.
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Written by Todd Ricketts, Ruth Bentler, and Gus Mueller, the book is designed as an “A to Z” textbook. Topics include audiologic prefitting testing, needs assessment and treatment planning, hearing aid selection, verification, orientation and counseling, post-fitting follow-up, and real-world validation.
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