Efficacy of Directional Microphone Hearing Aids: A Meta-Analytic Perspective
Journal of the American Academy of Audiology
Amlani, A. M. (2001).
Journal of the American Academy of Audiology, 12(4), 202-214.
This systematic review examines the efficacy of directional microphone hearing aids for improving signal-to-noise ratio as compared to omnidirectional hearing aids, in deaf and hard of hearing individuals and those without hearing loss.
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Published and unpublished studies (not further specified)
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"Dichotomized by acoustic condition, the results also indicate a significant difference between [omnidirectional hearing] ODHA and [directional microphone hearing] DMHA devices and listener groups but only in the less reverberant condition" (p. 212).
"Based on the findings in this analysis, [digital signal processing] DSP coupled with an omnidirectional microphone was found to improve intelligibility significantly over that observed when coupled with a directional microphone.... Further empirical evidence is needed to verify these claims" (p. 212).
"Overall, [directional microphone hearing aids] DMHAs were found to provide a statistically significant advantage over [omnidirectional hearing aids] ODHAs in improving [signal-to-noise ratio] SNR when data are pooled across all variables" (pp. 211-212).
