Loudness and Satisfaction Ratings for Hearing Aid Users

Background: Hearing aids amplify low-intensity sounds to make them audible while keeping high-intensity sounds at an acceptable loudness for listeners with impaired hearing. Purpose: The purpose of this analysis was to assess loudness and satisfaction at the same time using a combined loudness and satisfaction questionnaire to rate 18 everyday environmental sounds. Research Design: Ten sets of data from four studies, covering three conditions, were analyzed. The three conditions were unaided, wide dynamic range compression (WDRC), and adaptive dynamic range optimization (ADRO). In total, there were 61 subjects giving over 3,000 pairs of ratings for loudness and satisfaction. Results: The analysis found a strong relationship between loudness and satisfaction ratings for this set of listeners and conditions. The maximum satisfaction ratings corresponded to sounds with "comfortable" loudness ratings. Satisfaction was lowest for sounds that were "uncomfortably loud." Sounds that were very soft or inaudible also received low satisfaction ratings unless the sounds were expected to be soft, such as the sound of one's own breathing. Conclusions: Hearing aid fittings that place most sounds at a comfortable level are likely to be more satisfactory than hearing aid fittings that produce more sounds close to hearing thresholds or discomfort levels. Aided conditions gave higher loudness and satisfaction ratings than the unaided condition, and the ADRO hearing aids gave significantly higher satisfaction ratings than the WDRC hearing aids.