| Research Abstract |
1) We developed "self-check list of hearing-aid need" and "self-check list of dissatisfaction degree of TV sound listening", so that hearing-impaired old people can check how they feel inconvenience in their daily life.
2) By means of this questionnaires, we made nation-wide (the number of target : 600) investigation on the need for hearing aids and support service of auditory compensation.
3) As a result, 3.1% of over 60 year-old people now wear hearing aid, with distinction of sex, 4.1% of men and 2.1% of women. With generation distinction, we prove that rate of wearing hearing aid shows a tendency to go up from latter half 60's to early 70's. From the result of "self-check list to hard of hearing", 7.7% of over 60-year old people have problems of hearing, and over 10% early 70's old people have not yet received appropriate auditory compensation support in spite of candidates who have to wear or consult hearing aid.
4) We investigated about the way to select ancl prescribe hearing aid to fit each old hearing-impaired people, in-the-ear type hearing-aid, behind-the-ear type hearing-aid, body worn type hearing-aid, digital hearing-aid, FM hearing aid.
5) We developed a speech audiometric word lists consist of Japanese family names for hearing-impaired people who are difficult to adapt to nonsense mono-syllabic word discrimination test.
6) We developed a directivity controlled loudspeaker system, which can be placed on a TV set and amplifies sounds of 2000 to 6000 Hz for 15 dB in a horizontal direction angle of at least 30 degrees. The enhanced loudspeaker system improved the hearing of those persons who have slight difficulty hearing the 2000 to 6000 Hz range.
|
