Evaluation of home-delivered live-voice auditory training for adult hearing aid users involving their communication partners: a randomised controlled trial

Lowe, Stephanie C.; Henshaw, Helen; Wild, Jane; Ferguson, Melanie A.

Abstract

Objective: To examine the benefits of home-delivered auditory training for adult hearing aid users using live-voice conversations in the presence of a single-talker distractor (experimental group) or in quiet (active-control group). Design: Randomised controlled trial. The experimental group held conversations with their nominated communication partner in the presence of a single-talker distractor set to a challenging level, 30 min/day, 5 days/week over 4 weeks. The active-control group held comparable conversations in quiet. Behavioural outcome measures of speech-in-noise perception, cognition and self-reported hearing difficulties were assessed pre-and post-training. Participant feedback was obtained. Study sample: Thirty-nine hearing aid users (32 males, 7 females, mean age = 73.02 years, SD = 4.71 years) and their communication partners. Results: The experimental group significantly improved and outperformed the active-control group for words-in-noise perception. Both groups achieved improvements in self-reported hearing difficulty while
only the experimental group improved on dual-task. Subjectively, both groups found live-voice conversations beneficial and reported increased concentration and listening skills. Conclusions: Home-delivered live-voice auditory training with communication partners shows potential to improve outcomes for adult hearing aid users, regardless of the presence or absence of a competing speech distractor. Further research is required to assess mechanisms of benefit and distractor effects within carefully controlled experiments.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 8, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Feb 19, 2022
• Publication Date: 2023
• Deposit Date: Aug 18, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 20, 2023
• Journal: International Journal of Audiology
• Print ISSN: 1499-2027
• Electronic ISSN: 1708-8186
• Publisher: Informa UK Limited
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 62
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 89-99
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14992027.2021.2005834
• Keywords: Speech and Hearing; Linguistics and Language; Language and Linguistics
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/7414806
• Publisher URL: hhttps://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14992027.2021.2005834