Towards improved fittings, better outcomes and increased cognitive capacity with bone conduction devices

It is well known that ‘better’ hearing aid fittings lead to ‘better’ outcomes. In recent years, ‘better’ hearing aid fittings, particularly in the bone conduction space, have benefitted from advancements in verification tools, for example the skull simulator and surface microphone. In turn, these verification tools have aided in the development of individualized prescription algorithms, namely Desired Sensation Level (DSL-BC). While these developments have been an important first step in the advancement of our understanding of bone conduction fittings, there is still a great deal to be learned about the validation of these verification tools in more complex situations. Objective 1 will address this gap via: i) the verification and fitting of the surface microphone, with the skull simulator, across a range of ages, hearing profiles and fitting approaches and ii) In-situ threshold and output considerations when skin is in the vibration pathway. Comparably, what is meant by ‘better’ outcomes has expanded beyond traditional measures such as aided thresholds, questionnaires and speech in noise performance, to include more individualize cognitive consequences as a function of being aided.

Faculty Supervisor:

Bill Hodgetts;Jacqueline Cummine

Student:

Alex Gascon

Partner:

Oticon Canada

Discipline:

Medicine

Sector:

Manufacturing

University:

University of Alberta