Sonova Hearing Device Assessment

Sonova Hearing Device Assessment Sonova Hearing Device Assessment This project is a 12-month contract to provide external research services to the Phonak Audiology Research Center (PARC) within the Sonova US corporation. The Principal Investigator, Dr. Andrea Pittman, and 2 graduate service assistants will implement research protocols requested by PARC to assess proprietary hearing devices and device features up to 200 participant contact hours per year. All work will be done in the Pediatric Amplification Lab on the Tempe campus of Arizona State University. PARC will provide work orders detailing each assessment. Work orders may be generated in collaboration with researchers in the Pediatric Amplification Lab if necessary. The graduate service assistants will be responsible for recruitment and data collection. Dr. Pittman will be responsible for implementing the protocol, overseeing data collection, analyzing the data, providing documentation for project monitoring requirements, generating preliminary and final project reports, and presenting the results to the sponsor. The scope of the work will be limited to behavioral and benchtop testing of the hearing devices. Behavioral testing can include, for example, tasks requiring the participant to repeat familiar and unfamiliar words or sentences, repeat or identify unfamiliar words, associate words with visual images, and recall auditory information at a later time. Testing may also include longitudinal assessment of listening preferences, satisfaction, and hearing handicap. Benchtop testing may include, for example, real-ear, coupler, or simulated electro-acoustic analyses of the hearing devices in a commercially available hearing-aid analyzer or sound-treated room. Noncommercial or specialized equipment required for a work order will be provided by the sponsor. Participants will have normal hearing or hearing loss that can be corrected with personal hearing devices (e.g., hearing aids). Depending on the work order, participants may include children (7-18 yrs) or adults (19-100 years) or both.