This section shares benchmarking and related research information from inside Starkey, including detailed methodology used in data collection.
Poor speech understanding in noise is one of the most commonly heard complaints that hearing healthcare professionals hear from their patients (Kochkin, 2002). One proven method of addressing this complaint is the use of directional microphones (Ricketts, 2001). As such, the usage of an effective directional microphone is an important design focus in today's hearing aids. For this reason, all new Starkey hearing instruments are evaluated on the amount of benefit that can be obtained for speech recognition in noise. The Hearing in Noise Test (HINT) is one example of a standardized test that evaluates speech recognition in noise (Nilsson et al., 1994). The HINT is routinely administered as a part of Starkey's clinical validation battery. Read more...
Measures of Maximum Stable insertion Gain (MSG) are valuable in that they represent the effectiveness of a hearing aid's feedback cancellation algorithm as well as the quality of the instrument' mechanical design. Read more...
Added stable gain (ASG) is the difference in a hearing aid's maximum stable gain (MSG) with its feedback cancellation algorithm turned off and its feedback cancellation algorithm turned on. In other words, it is the additional gain available to a hearing aid user when the hearing aid's feedback cancellation algorithm is activated. MSG is the highest amount of gain that can be provided in a hearing aid without audible feedback or degraded sound quality due to feedback oscillation (Johnson et al., 2007; Ricketts et al., 2008). For an in-depth definition and walk-through on measurement of MSG visit the link below. Read more...
Directivity Index (DI) and Polar Measures
The Directivity Index (DI) of a directional microphone array is the ratio of the microphone output for a sound source positioned directly in front of the microphone array to that array's output measured in a diffuse sound field of the same total acoustic power. A diffuse sound field is one in which the statistical distribution of sound energy is uniform throughout the sound field and the directions of wave propagation are randomly distributed. While this definition of a diffuse field DI is a theoretical ideal, a representative measure can be derived in a free-field using an anechoic chamber and single loudspeaker. The methodology for this approach is outlined below. Knowledge of a directional microphone's DI is useful in that this information may be interpreted as an estimate of the effective signal to ambient noise ratio improvement when the directional microphone is active. It is reasonable to expect that in many noisy listening situations increasing a directional microphone's DI will improve signal-to-noise ratio and result in improved speech recognition ability and comfort for the listener. Read more...
The Equivalent Input Noise (EIN) of a hearing aid is the level of environmental input noise that is required to produce an output voltage that is identical to the voltage of the device's internal noise. If a hearing aid has an EIN that is too high, the noise may be audible to listeners with mild thresholds. Read more...
Exposure to moisture, wax and other foreign materials will degrade hearing aid performance over time. This issue may be exacerbated in patients with more active lifestyles (such as baby boomers and children). Read more...
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