My “Near Deaf” Experience
I’ve worn hearing aids for over 45 years and I’ve been an Audiologist almost as long. I’ve worked with hard of hearing and deaf people and their families for my entire career and you would think that I would have a good understanding of the feelings and experiences of people who are deaf, particularly late […]
LARGE AREA ASSISTIVE LISTENING SYSTEMS (ALS): REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The Audiogram: Explanation and Significance
Recently, I’ve been trying to organize some of the columns and articles I’ve written over the past ten years. As I was looking through them, it became apparent that I’ve neglected to discuss what is perhaps most important hearing dimension of all, the simple audiogram. In reality, however, the “simple” audiogram, and particularly its implications, […]
Feedback Cancellation Systems and Open-Ear Hearing Aid Fitting
The presence, or threat, of acoustic feedback has long been one of the major problems in the fitting and wearing of hearing aids. Acoustic feedback occurs when some of the amplified sound leaks from the ear canal and is picked up by the hearing aid microphone and then re-amplified. This starts the cycle of leakage […]
Some Reflections on Digital Signal Processing (DSP) Hearing Aids
So-called digital hearing aids are an outgrowth of the computer revolution that is transforming our entire society. Today, digital technology has been applied to hearing aids in two distinct formats: Digitally programmable analog signal-processing (ASP) instruments and digitally programmable digital signal processing (DSP) Digital encoding in the latter technology is proving to be an economical […]
Helpful Hints to the New Hearing Aid User
If you are an adult and have just received your first hearing aid, the chances are that its need has been apparent to most everyone, except perhaps yourself, for years. The average adult receives his or her first hearing aid some five to seven years after the problems caused by a hearing loss are first […]
Environmentally Adaptive Hearing Aids
The only sound dimension that was “adaptive” with my first hearing aid was the loudness. I could choose to turn the volume control up or down, and that was it. True, the aid also contained an accessible tone control with three choices (normal, high-tone, and low-tone), but for the most part, I (and most hearing […]
MULTICHANNEL AND MULTI-MICROPHONE DIRECTIONAL HEARING AIDS: Fitting Procedures and Evaluation of Current and Emergent Technology
The most common complaint of those who wear hearing aids, by far, is interference from background noise and reverberation (e.g. echoing environments). The RERC for Hearing Enhancement has been working on techniques for reducing the effects of background noise and reverberation on speech clarity. Thus far, improvements shown with single microphone input are small, if […]
Acceptable Noise Levels (ANL)
The most frequent complaint by people who wear hearing aids concerns their difficulties in tolerating background sounds. Noise is the enemy of the hearing aid user; it affects not only speech comprehension, but the very willingness to wear hearing aids. One of the first comments often made by new hearing aid users relates to the […]
Dr. Mark Ross is a Principal Investigator of the RERC on Hearing Enhancement,
Professor Emeritus of Audiology, University of Connecticut and has served as Vice President of the SHHH Board of Trustees. He writes a regular column for Hearing Loss Magazine- The Journal of the Hearing Loss Association of America, called “Developments in Research and Technology.” He has published and lectured extensively on topics dealing with hearing […]