Comparison of three procedures for initial fitting of compression hearing aids. I. Experienced users, fitted bilaterally

AbstractWe compared the effectiveness of three procedures for the initial fitting of hearing aids with multiband compression: (1) CAMEQ, which aims to amplify speech so as to give equal loudness per critical band over the frequency range important for speech intelligibility, and to give similar overall loudness to ‘normal’; (2) CAMREST, which aims to amplify speech so as to restore ‘normal’ specific loudness patterns, over a wide range of speech levels; (3) DSL I/O, which aims to map the dynamic range of normally hearing people into the reduced dynamic range of hearing-impaired people, with ‘full’ restoration of audibility. Ten experienced hearing aid users with moderate sensorineural loss were fitted bilaterally with Danalogic 163D digital hearing aids, using each procedure in turn; the order was counterbalanced across subjects. The fitting required specification of gains for input levels of 55 and 80 dB SPL at six centre frequencies. Real-ear measurements were made to ensure that target gains were reach...