Pilot Comparison of Adjustment Protocols of Personal Sound Amplification Products.

The Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid Act of 2017 was signed into law in August 2017 and facilitates the introduction of direct-to-consumer sales of hearing aids for adults with mild-to-moderate hearing loss. Among many questions surrounding over-the-counter sales is the ability of users to self-fit amplification. Many studies have conducted self-fitting procedures using guidance materials provided by audiologists.

Relations among Auditory Brainstem and Middle Latency Response Measures, Categorical Loudness Judgments, and Their Associated Physical Intensities.

This study characterizes changes in response properties of toneburst-evoked auditory brainstem responses (ABRs) and/or middle latency responses (MLRs) as a function of perceived loudness and physical intensity of these stimuli and delineates the range of levels corresponding to categorical loudness judgments for these stimuli. ABRs/MLRs were recorded simultaneously to 500- and 2,000-Hz tonebursts in 10 normal-hearing adults at levels corresponding to each listener's loudness judgments for four categories on Contour Test of Loudness. Group mean ABR wave V and MLR wave Pa latency values increased significantly as loudness judgments decreased.

Effects of various articulatory features of speech on cortical event-related potentials and behavioral measures of speech-sound processing.

Objective: To investigate the effects of three articulatory features of speech (i.e., vowel-space contrast, place of articulation of stop consonants, and voiced/voiceless distinctions) on cortical event-related potentials (ERPs) (waves N1, mismatch negativity, N2b, and P3b) and their related behavioral measures of discrimination (d-prime sensitivity and reaction time [RT]) in normal-hearing adults to increase our knowledge regarding how the brain responds to acoustical differences that occur within an articulatory speech feature and across articulatory features of speech.

Effects of sensorineural hearing loss and personal hearing AIDS on cortical event-related potential and behavioral measures of speech-sound processing.

Objective: To systematically investigate the combined effects of sensorineural hearing loss and prescribed personal hearing aid(s) on cortical event-related potentials (ERPs) (waves N1, MMN, N2b, and P3b) and their related behavioral measures of discrimination (d-prime sensitivity and reaction time) to the speech sounds /ba/ and /da/ presented at 65 and 80 dB peak-to-peak equivalent SPL.

Design: Cortical ERPs were recorded to /ba/ and /da/ speech stimuli presented at 65 and 80 dB peak-to-peak equivalent SPL from 20 normal-hearing adults and 14 adults with sensorineural hearing losses. The degree of sensorineural impairment at 1000 to 2000 Hz ranged from moderate losses (50 to 74 dB HL) to severe-profound losses (75 to 120 dB HL).