Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40853328›Full record

ArticleTrends in hearing

Perception of Recorded Music With Hearing Aids: Compression Differentially Affects Musical Scene Analysis and Musical Sound Quality.

Robin Hake, Michel Bürgel, Christophe Lesimple, Matthias Vormann, Kirsten C Wagener, Volker Kuehnel, Kai Siedenburg

Abstract readComparative Study
In one paragraph

Article in Trends in hearing. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Auditory scene analysis in music: A synthetic review.Attention, perception & psychophysics · 2026
    Review
  2. Article
  3. Article
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

7 authors.

Robin HakeDepartment of Medical Physics and Acoustics, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-8717-1261
Michel BürgelDepartment of Medical Physics and Acoustics, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany.
Christophe LesimpleSonova AG, Stäfa, Switzerland.ORCID 0000-0003-1185-2594
Matthias VormannHörzentrum Oldenburg gGmbH, Oldenburg, Germany.ORCID 0009-0000-9992-8332
Kirsten C WagenerHörzentrum Oldenburg gGmbH, Oldenburg, Germany.ORCID 0000-0003-2858-2789
Volker KuehnelSonova AG, Stäfa, Switzerland.ORCID 0009-0004-9059-1592
Kai SiedenburgDepartment of Medical Physics and Acoustics, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-7360-4249

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Hearing aids have traditionally been designed to facilitate speech perception. With regards to music perception, previous work indicates that hearing aid users frequently complain about music sound quality. Yet, the effects of hearing aid amplification on musical perception abilities are largely unknown. This study aimed to investigate the effects of hearing aid amplification and dynamic range compression (DRC) settings on musical scene analysis (MSA) abilities and sound quality ratings (SQR) using polyphonic music recordings. Additionally, speech reception thresholds in noise (SRT) were measured. Thirty-three hearing aid users with moderate to severe hearing loss participated in three conditions: unaided, and aided with either slow or fast DRC settings. Overall, MSA abilities, SQR and SRT significantly improved with the use of hearing aids compared to the unaided condition. Yet, differences were observed regarding the choice of compression settings. Fast DRC led to better MSA performance, reflecting enhanced selective listening in musical mixtures, while slow DRC elicited more favorable SQR. Despite these improvements, variability in amplification benefit across DRC settings and tasks remained considerable, with some individuals showing limited or no improvement. These findings highlight a trade-off between scene transparency (indexed by MSA) and perceived sound quality, with individual differences emerging as a key factor in shaping amplification outcomes. Our results underscore the potential benefits of hearing aids for music perception and indicate the need for personalized fitting strategies tailored to task-specific demands.

Indexed as

Auditory PerceptionCorrection of Hearing ImpairmentHearing AidsHearing LossMusicPersons with Hearing DisabilitiesAcoustic StimulationAdultAgedAged, 80 and overAuditory ThresholdFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedNoiseauditory scene analysiscompressionhearing aidsmusicMusical Scene Analysissound qualityspeech

Identifiers

PMID40853328
PMCPMC12378302

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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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.