Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33874803›Full record

Trial reportTrends in hearing

Detection, Speech Recognition, Loudness, and Preference Outcomes With a Direct Drive Hearing Aid: Effects of Bandwidth.

Paula Folkeard, Maaike Van Eeckhoutte, Suzanne Levy, Drew Dundas, Parvaneh Abbasalipour, Danielle Glista, Sumit Agrawal, Susan Scollie

Open access · goldAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in Trends in hearing. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
0.6field-weighted citation impact, top 38% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Hearing Aids: What Works Well and What Can Be Improved.Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology : JARO · 2026
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.

Paula FolkeardNational Centre for Audiology, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada.ORCID 0000-0003-3109-6730
Maaike Van EeckhoutteTechnical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark.
Suzanne LevyEarlens Corporation, Menlo Park, California, United States.
Drew DundasEarlens Corporation, Menlo Park, California, United States.
Parvaneh AbbasalipourNational Centre for Audiology, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada.ORCID 0000-0001-8771-7618
Danielle GlistaNational Centre for Audiology, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada.
Sumit AgrawalNational Centre for Audiology, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada.
Susan ScollieNational Centre for Audiology, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada.
Western University · CAMenlo School · USCopenhagen University Hospital · DK

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Direct drive hearing devices, which deliver a signal directly to the middle ear by vibrating the tympanic membrane via a lens placed in contact with the umbo, are designed to provide an extension of audible bandwidth, but there are few studies of the effects of these devices on preference, speech intelligibility, and loudness. The current study is the first to compare aided speech understanding between narrow and extended bandwidth conditions for listeners with hearing loss while fitted with a direct drive hearing aid system. The study also explored the effect of bandwidth on loudness perception and investigated subjective preference for bandwidth. Fifteen adult hearing aid users with symmetrical sensorineural hearing loss participated in a prospective, within-subjects, randomized single-blind repeated-measures study. Participants wore the direct drive hearing aids for 4 to 15 weeks (average 6 weeks) prior to outcome measurement. Outcome measures were completed in various bandwidth conditions achieved by reducing the gain of the device above 5000 Hz or by filtering the stimuli. Aided detection thresholds provided evidence of amplification to 10000 Hz. A significant improvement was found in high-frequency consonant detection and recognition, as well as for speech in noise performance in the full versus narrow bandwidth conditions. Subjective loudness ratings increased with provision of the full bandwidth available; however, real-world trials showed most participants were able to wear the full bandwidth hearing aids with only small adjustments to the prescription method. The majority of participants had either no preference or a preference for the full bandwidth setting.

Indexed as

Hearing AidsHearing Loss, SensorineuralSpeech PerceptionAdultHumansProspective StudiesSingle-Blind Methoddirect driveextended bandwidthhearing aidsloudness perceptionspeech perception

Identifiers

PMID33874803
PMCPMC8060758
OpenAlexW3156908170

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.