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Audiol > Volume 6(2); 2010 > Article
Audiology 2010;6(2): 159-163.
Published online: December 31, 2010.
doi: http://doi.org/10.21848/audiol.2010.6.2.159
보청기를 착용한 노인의 청능 훈련기간에 따른 단어인지도의 변화
김형근1, 이경원2
1스타키보청기 분당센터
2한림국제대학원대학교 청각학과
Effects of Word Recognition Score as a Function of Auditory Training Terms for Elderly Hearing Impaired with Hearing Aid
Hyoung-Geun Kim1, Kyoung Won Lee2
1Starkey Bundang Hearing Care Center, Sungnam, Korea
2Department of Audiology, Hallym University of Graduate Studies, Seoul, Korea
Correspondence  Kyoung Won Lee ,Tel: (02) 2051-4951, Fax: (02) 3453-6618, Email: leekw@hallym.ac.kr
Received: October 31, 2010; Revised: November 22, 2010   Accepted: December 10, 2010.  Published online: December 31, 2010.
ABSTRACT
Although a use of hearing aids improves speech audibility, it is known that elderly hearing-impaired listeners often exhibit difficulty understanding speech in background noise. The purpose of this study was to examine a short-term (8-week) auditory training in word-recognition performance of 24 old hearing aid users. Twelve aged listeners (M=76.2 yrs) participated as auditory training group (ATG), and other twelve old listeners (M=74.0 yrs) served as non-training group (NTG). The ATG received forty-minute auditory training twice a week across the entire 8 weeks of training. During the training, the target monosyllabic words (Korean monosyllabic words) were presented in both open-set and closed-set aided conditions. All the words were presented at the most comfortable level of each participant with four different signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs of -5, 0, +5, +10 dB). To check the training benefit, word-recognition performance of ATG was tested after 1-, 4-, 8-week trainings. Results showed that word recognition performance of NTG did not improve as expected. Word recognition score of ATG was, however, significantly increased after 8-week training. Even though 4-week training results revealed a tendency of increment in word-recognition performance, a positive change after 4-week training was not significant. The amount of improvement after 8-week auditory training was the greatest at +10 dB SNR and the least at -5 dB SNR. The results indicate that the short-term (8-week) auditory training would be beneficial for old listeners to recognize speech in the background noise yet the training effect would depend on the SNRs. Therefore, at least 8 weeks of training in various listening conditions should be considered for elderly hearing aid users who want training benefit in daily listening and communication.
Key Words: Auditory training·Elderly hearing impaired·Hearing aid·Signal-to-noise (SNR)·Word recognition score.
중심단어: 노인성 난청· 단어인지도· 보청기· 신호대잡음비· 청능훈련.
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