A New Technique to Improve Aided Localization

Healthcare News | September 20, 2009

The primary goal of most hearing aid fit¬tings is to provide audibility, optimize intelligibility, and maximize sound quality. A secondary goal, which often is overlooked and seldom assessed clinically, is aided localization. The ability for hearing aid users to detect where sounds are coming from is important for many reasons. Obvious examples involve safety (a car horn honk on a busy street) or identifying a sound based on its location. Knowing from where a voice originates or locating a new talker in a group provides important visual cues and also assists in effective communication and may lead indirectly to improved speech understanding. Moreover, simply locating and pairing sounds with visual stimuli in the everyday environment assists in relaxed listening and an enhanced overall enjoyment of the world.

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