How Hearing Instruments Help to Improve Speech Louder Than Noise

By Elizabeth Brassine, Au D – Hearing Services of McKinney

The prevalence of hearing loss is rather telling. Thirty-six million Americans have a significant hearing loss. That equates to one out of every four households in the US with a member who is hearing impaired. And half of all hearing impaired individuals are over the age of 65.

Difficulty understanding speech in the presence of noise was the most commonly reported problem by hearing impaired individuals. Clinical studies show even mild amounts of hearing loss can affect one’s ability to communicate in background noise.

So, how do we define noise? Simply put, it’s any signal other than what the hearing instrument user wishes to hear at any given moment. It’s what is called the Signal-to-Noise ratio (SNR). In background noise, the level of the speech signal (what we want to hear) is relatively low compared to the level of the noise. People with hearing loss need a more favorable SNR (speech louder than noise) to understand speech than listeners with normal hearing.

How does a hearing instrument help to improve the SNR? The best way to reduce background noise is to prevent it from entering the hearing system. This can be accomplished with an advanced directional microphone system. Directional microphone technology assumes the primary signal for the listener is speech, so the desired signal is in front. In order to improve the Signal-to-Noise ratio, the signals from the front (speech) must be amplified and the signals from other directions (background noise) must be suppressed. This allows for better understanding of speech with the background noise getting reduced.

Can everyone benefit from directional microphone technology in hearing instruments? Yes, but the question remains which technology is most appropriate? The answer is really based on lifestyle. The more active a person is and the more diverse listening environments a person is in, the more the hearing instrument will have to work for them, so the greater need to go to the more advanced directional technology. Your audiologist can sit down with you and, based on hearing loss and lifestyle requirements, help you to make an informed decision about the technology.