Development of speech intelligibility in geriatric individuals with hearing loss.

Background: In our study, we aimed to evaluate the hearing aid benefit and speech intelligibility with hearing aids using objective and subjective measurements, according to the type of hearing loss in elderly individuals who used different types of hearing aids.

Methods: The objective and subjective findings from a total of 47 elderly individuals between the ages of 60 and 84, who used regular hearing aids for at least six months, and who were diagnosed with different types and degrees of hearing loss were evaluated by scanning them retrospectively.

Results: : In our study, the Adaptive Turkish matrix sentence test (ATMST) was carried out with binaural headphones, and a statistically significant difference was observed between the ATMST scores of individuals with symmetrical hearing loss. A significant difference was found between the ATMST score averages for individuals with symmetrical hearing loss (S0 N90 and S0 N270) and asymmetric hearing loss (S0 N0 and S0 N270) in the free area. A significant difference was found between abbreviated profile of hearing aid benefit satisfaction questionnaires before and after hearing aid use in all groups.

Discussion: The Turkish matrix sentence test (TMST) in noise can be used routinely in clinics in order to evaluate the possible hearing loss from the daily environment and the hearing aid effectiveness.