Direct-to-Consumer Hearing Devices: Capabilities, Costs, and Cosmetics.

ABSTRACT: Direct-to-consumer (DTC) hearing devices can be purchased without consulting a hearing health professional. This project aims to compare 28 DTC devices with the most popular hearing aid supplied by the U.K. National Health Service (NHS). The comparison was based on technical performance, cosmetic acceptability, and the ability to match commonly used gain and slope targets. Electroacoustic performance was evaluated in a 2-cc coupler. Match to prescription target for both gain and slope was measured on a Knowles Electronic Manikin for Acoustic Research using a mild and also a moderate sloping hearing loss. Using an online blinded paired comparison of each DTC and the NHS reference device, 126 participants (50 were hearing aid users and 76 were nonhearing aid users) assessed the cosmetic appe

SUBMITTER: Almufarrij I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6614949 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan-Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature