/Objectives: Directional microphones are an established hearing aid technology for improving speech understanding in background noise. Although researchers have examined the influence of hair, spectacles, and earmold venting on directional performance, no systematic work has addressed head coverings, which people wear worldwide for cultural, religious, occupational, and personal reasons....
✦ The floor
Discussion
Signed responses from readers of the wire.
Audiologists fitting patients who regularly wear head coverings should be aware that such garments may alter directional microphone performance; counsel patients accordingly and consider real-ear verification under realistic wearing conditions.
Directional microphone benefit is a key selling point of modern hearing aids, and this study highlights an under-examined real-world variable that could affect a sizeable population of hearing aid users.
- 01KEMAR mannequin used to simulate real-ear acoustic conditions with various head coverings.
- 02Head coverings (religious/cultural garments) may degrade directional microphone performance in hearing aids.
- 03Findings are relevant to audiologists fitting diverse patient populations.
- 04Lab-based methodology limits direct generalisation to real-world outcomes.
- 05Published in Audiology Research (MDPI open-access journal).
Head coverings affect directional microphone performance in modern hearing aids.
studypartially supported- PMID
- 42930350
- DOI
- 10.3390/audiolres16050152.
- Journal
- Audiology Research
- Publication type
- research_article
- Evidence level
- 4
- Population
- Simulated human head (KEMAR acoustic mannequin); no human participants
- Intervention
- Head coverings (religious/cultural garments) worn over hearing aids on KEMAR
- Comparator
- No head covering baseline condition
Primary outcomes
Directional microphone performance metrics in modern hearing aids under various head-covering conditions