Now that Hearing Aids Can Do Almost Anything, What Should They Do to be Really Helpful? Denis Byrne Hearing aid technology has advanced very rapidly. However, there has been less advancement in understanding what types of amplification are most beneficial and what fitting strategy will be best for each individual. Traditionally, hearing aids have been designed and fitted to provide best understanding of speech while maintaining comfortable listening. Sound quality has also been considered but not adequately or consistently. Other aspects of auditory experience, concerned with the detection of significant sounds, with locating sounds, and with providing a natural spatial experience, have received little or no consideration. A conceptual model, called SHAPE, is proposed for listing possible fitting objectives, for identifying amplification strategies that are likely to meet each objective, and for determining questions that need to be researched to decide which fitting strategy will be best for any individual. The amplification that is best for one objective, such as understanding speech, may be less effective for other objectives, such as detecting or locating sounds. Therefore, hearing aid design and fitting should be considered broadly to take account of all desirable objectives when deciding on the best overall amplification strategy. An international project has reviewed the current state of knowledge and has identified a series of research questions that need to be answered to provide a more comprehensive view of hearing aid fitting. |