- In this video I'm talking about
initial hearing aid sound quality
and why it shouldn't be a consideration
when you're picking your next set of hearing aids,
coming up.
(upbeat music)
Hi guys, Cliff Olson, Doctor of Audiology
and founder of Applied Hearing Solutions
in Anthem, Arizona.
And on this channel I cover a bunch
of hearing-related information
to help make you a better informed consumer.
So if you're into that,
make sure you hit that Subscribe button.
And don't forget to hit the bell
to receive a notification
every time I release a new video.
Chances are when you're being fit
with a new set of hearing aids,
your hearing care professional
will ask you how they sound.
This is because they're looking
for your initial perception of sound quality.
But what if I told you that it would be a huge mistake
to let the initial sound quality of a device
help you make a determination
on if those hearing aids are right for you?
That's why I believe
there are four main reasons
why you don't wanna focus
on initial sound quality in a hearing aid.
And reason number one
is that all major brands of hearing aids
have really good sound quality.
Now if you're wondering
if one of these hearing aid manufacturers
has better sound quality than the rest,
the answer is no.
There has been a bunch of research on this
to determine which hearing aid manufacturer
produces the best sound quality,
and if you grab a handful of research articles,
you'll see that each article would indicate that
basically a different company has better sound quality.
There is no general consensus on this,
and there is research that is all over the board
indicating that there really is no manufacturer
that is consistently ranking at the top of sound quality.
So as long as you select a hearing aid
from a reputable manufacturer,
the chances are is that that hearing aid
will have the capability
of providing really good sound quality.
Reason number two is that
perceived initial sound quality
often indicates that those hearing aids
aren't programmed correctly.
Hearing aid manufacturers have one main goal,
and that is to get you to wear their hearing aids.
But they do this at a cost,
and that cost is often speech understanding.
All hearing aid manufacturers have a first-fit algorithm
that will estimate the level of amplification that you need
at each particular frequency range.
However all of these first-fit algorithms
will reduce the amount of amplification
that you'll receive in the high frequencies.
They do this to give you a better initial sound quality
when you're being first fit with those devices.
The problem with this is that all these high frequencies
that are being reduced from the amplification
is going to cost you speech understanding
because that is where the consonance sounds
that give you clarity to speech reside.
Take a look at this prescription verification
using real ear measurement.
This illustrates
how the amplification of a hearing aid
using manufacturer first-fit estimates
do not meet the prescriptive targets
for an individual's hearing loss.
The purple hash mark line indicates
the amplification required at each frequency
to achieve maximum audibility.
Low frequencies are on the left,
mid frequencies are in the middle,
and high frequencies are on the right.
What you want to have happen
is have the solid lines,
which is the amount of sound
coming out of the hearing aid
to overlap with this hash mark line.
The purple solid line indicates a hearing aid
at the manufacturer's first-fit estimate.
As you can see it falls short
of the purple hash mark line
which would indicate an under-amplification
of this hearing aid,
particularly in the high frequencies
to give the perception of better sound quality.
The solid pink line on the other hand,
most of which you cannot see
because it is overlapping
the prescriptive hash mark line,
illustrates the same hearing aid
programmed correctly
for this person's hearing loss
to maximize speech understanding.
If your hearing care professional
sends you out of the office
with these first-fit settings
from the hearing aid manufacturer,
the chances are is that
your sound quality will be good
but your speech understanding
will not be where it should be.
Reason number three is that your brain
will end up adapting to the sound quality
of whatever hearing aid you end up wearing.
It is widely accepted that hearing aid users
need to adapt to the proper level of amplification
from their hearing aids.
So if your hearing care professional
is programming your hearing aids correctly
up to your prescriptive targets,
then you may not actually like the way
that those hearing aids sound initially.
Your brain just isn't ready for them.
But over time not only will you begin to
actually appreciate the level
of amplification that you're getting,
you'll actually end up preferring it.
And the fourth reason
that you shouldn't rely
on initial sound quality
when picking a hearing aid
is that you could be foregoing other features
that are even more important.
Since you'll prefer the sound quality
of whatever devices you end up picking anyway,
you don't wanna miss out on other features
that would provide you additional benefit
because you put too much weight
on the initial sound quality
of a particular device.
When I say features,
I'm talking about things
like a Telecoil or Rechargeability
or Connectivity with other Bluetooth devices.
Each one of these different features
that are available with different hearing aid brands
could have a major impact on your performance.
At the end of the day if you place too much importance
on initial sound quality with a hearing aid,
you could be setting yourself up
for subpar speech understanding
with a device that ultimately doesn't meet your needs.
Instead focus on the features that are most important to you
and spend your time finding a hearing care provider
who does the programming the right way
using real ear measurement.
Now if you don't know what real ear measurement is,
I highly recommend you watch my video
that I will link in the card up here
and in the description below.
That's it for this video.
If you have any questions,
leave them in the Comments section below.
If you liked the video, please share it.
If you wanna see other videos just like this one,
make sure you hit that Subscribe button.
I'll see you next time.
(upbeat music)