The Impact of Hearing Aid Use on the Nasalance Scores of Adults with Hearing Loss

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the impact of a hearing-aid on nasalance scores by evaluating nasalance in a prefitting condition and in a postfitting condition, and to determine in what way a more accurate auditory feedback system and possible other sensory information may play with regard to the nasalance scores. An additional objective was to compare the obtained nasalance scores ofhearing -impaired participants in the prefitting and postfitting conditions with the nasalance scores of normal hearing participants. Furthermore, the effects of wearing a hearing aid on nasalance with respect to the severity of hearing loss and age were examined. The study group consisted of 19 adults with no known physical impairment other than a sensorineural hearing loss, which could interfere with speech production. None of the participants ever wore a hearing aid. The participants were asked to read three passages, each containing a different proportion of nasal consonants. The Nasometer 6200 was used to investigate the nasalance differences between the unaided and aided conditions. In part, the results of the present study indicate significant nasalance differences between the prefitting and postfitting conditions This suggests that velopharyngeal closure appears to be more accurate when auditory feedback is increased. Therefore, we can assume that the use of auditory feedback as a strategy to improve velopharyngeal function in patients with velopharyngeal disorders must be encouraged. In contrast, the hearing-impaired participants do not show higher or lowernasalancevalues than normal hearing participants. In addition, nasalance, severity of hearing loss, and age were not positively related. Possible reasons for these findings are discussed.