Side Effects: Optimizing bone-conduction amplification for successful auditory perception in adults and children with unilateral hearing loss

Side Effects: Optimizing bone-conduction amplification for successful auditory perception in adults and children with unilateral hearing loss Side Effects: Optimizing bone-conduction amplification for successful auditory perception in adults and children with unilateral hearing loss This project seeks to determine the optimal output levels for bone-anchored hearing devices in children and adults who have severe-to-profound hearing loss in one ear and normal hearing in the other ear. Amplification levels required to equate performance through air- and bone-conduction pathways will be used to generate fitting targets for this population. Bilateral stimulation in the free field will confirm the adequacy of the derived targets. Twenty-five children and 25 adults with unilateral hearing loss will undergo clinical audiometry and device fitting using DSL fitting targets for bone-conduction devices. Measures of word recognition and non-word detection will be used to determine performance for stimuli presented via air conduction to the better ear and via bone conduction on the affected side. Perception will be evaluated at soft, average, and loud input levels. Adequacy of the final device output levels will be assessed in the free field using separated speech and noise signals. This 1-year project will be conducted in the Pediatric Amplification lab at Arizona State University. One 50% effort graduate research assistant (AuD) will be responsible for fitting the devices, testing, and data collection. Dr. Pittman will be responsible for oversite of the project, data analyses, publication, and presentation of the results.