Thomas Lunner | PubMed Health

PubMed2005

Analysis of counted behaviors in a single-subject design: modeling of hearing-aid intervention in hearing-impaired patients with Alzheimer's disease.

Clinical procedures related to patients with Alzheimer's Disease (AD) largely fail to address the patient's hearing. Given the challenges of this population, unconventional indicators of treatment efficacy may be required. Palmer et al (1999) reported on caregiver-tracked behaviors as outcome measures for hearing aid intervention. Using these data, hearing aid use and subsequent behavior was modeled as a first-order dynamic system, characterized by responses following an exponential time course. The results of such modeling suggest predictable outcomes of hearing aid intervention, or at least useful parameters of quantification (e.g. time-constant and steady-state response), permitting critical assessment of effects of intervention on negative behaviors versus hearing aid use, comparisons among behaviors, and/or comparisons of hearing-aid-use patterns and behavior counts among patients. Use in this and other difficult-to-test populations warrant further study to evaluate clinical efficacy of the analysis described.

Aged↗

PubMed2003

Cognitive function in relation to hearing aid use.

Two experiments were conducted to investigate possible relationships between cognitive function and hearing aid use. In Experiment 1, 72 first-time hearing aid users were tested for speech recognition in noise (Hagerman sentence test) with and without hearing aids. Cognitive function was assessed by tests of working memory (reading span test) and verbal information-processing speed. The results indicate that, after controlling for age and hearing loss, significant correlations exist between the measures of cognitive performance and speech recognition in noise, both with and without hearing aids. High cognitive performance was associated with high performance in the speech recognition task. In Experiment 2, 17 first-time hearing aid users with either high or low working-memory capacity tested an experimental hearing aid which processed the sound differently depending on whether or not speech was detected. The results revealed that those with high working-memory capacity were better than those with low capacity at identifying and reporting the specific processing effects of the aid. This may have implications for how reported results should be interpreted in a research context, how a person's rehabilitation needs are formulated, and how hearing aid controls should be supervised. In conclusion, careful attention should be paid to the cognitive status of listeners, as it can have a significant influence on their ability to utilize their hearing aids.

Adult↗