Sensori-Neural Hearing Loss Client’s Performance with Receiver-In-Canal (RIC) Hearing Aids - International Journal of Otolaryngology and Head & Neck Surgery

IJOHNS > Vol.2 No.2, March 2013

Sensori-Neural Hearing Loss Client’s Performance with Receiver-In-Canal (RIC) Hearing Aids ()

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DOI: 10.4236/ijohns.2013.22017 4,621 Downloads 8,098 Views Citations

Author(s)

S. G. R. Prakash, Ravichandran Aparna, S. B. Rathna Kumar, Tamsekar Madhav, Kaki Ashritha, Kande Navyatha

Affiliation(s)

Ali Yavar Jung National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped, Department of Disability Affairs, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Goverment of India, Mumbai, India.
Ali Yavar Jung National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped, Southern Regional Centre, Department of Disability Affairs, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Goverment of India, Secunderabad, India.

ABSTRACT

Background: Individuals fitted with hearing aids complain of the unnatural sound quality of their voice, other internally generated sounds such as chewing and swallowing sounds “hollow”, “muffled” sounds. Receiver-In-Canal hearing aids are favored due to small size, discrete appearance and ability to minimize occlusion. Aim: To compare the performance of Receiver-In-Canal (RIC) to traditional ear tip (ET), ear moulds (EM) fittings using Functional gain measures. Method: Ten subjects with flat moderately severe sensori neural hearing loss participated in the study. Subjective unaided and aided measures for digital BTE hearing aids with ear tip, ear mould or Receiver-In-Canal for pure tones of 250 Hz, 500 Hz, 1000 Hz, 2000 Hz, 4000 Hz were obtained. Results and Discussion: Higher scores were obtained with Receiver-In-Canal fitting on Functional gain measures. No significant difference between all the three conditions was obtained at low frequencies especially at 500 Hz, as Receiver-In-Canal hearing aids attenuate low frequency sounds automatically when the ear is left open (up to 30 dB less amplification at 500 Hz) especially for hearing in noisy situations. Conclusion: The results suggest that Receiver-In-Canal fittings are an effective means of overcoming the major barriers to the acceptance of amplification and further suggest the clinical importance of subjective measures in measuring aided benefit of open-fit devices in the rehabilitation of person’s with moderately severe to severe SN hearing loss.

KEYWORDS

Sensori Neural Hearing Loss; RIC Hearing Aids; Functional Gain Measures

Share and Cite:

S. Prakash, R. Aparna, S. Rathna Kumar, T. Madhav, K. Ashritha and K. Navyatha, "Sensori-Neural Hearing Loss Client’s Performance with Receiver-In-Canal (RIC) Hearing Aids," International Journal of Otolaryngology and Head & Neck Surgery, Vol. 2 No. 2, 2013, pp. 68-73. doi: 10.4236/ijohns.2013.22017.

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