Der blev givet 13 præsentationer med relation til BEAR projektet ved “The International Symposium on Auditory and Audiological Research (ISAAR) på 2019 mødet, 21-23 august:
S1.07 – Highlights from the better hearing rehabilitation (BEAR) project in Denmark
14:30 pm – 15:00 pm
Dorte Hammershøi* – Department of Electronic Systems, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
The BEAR project runs from 2016-2021, and includes several scientific efforts, incl. the collection of data for almost 2.000 patients fitted according to current practice, development and assessment of new diagnostics for profiling and fitting strategies, as well as development and assessment of methods for measurement of the aided performance. The on-going work includes a proposal for a differentiated fitting based on extended auditory profiles and is accompanied by both in- and out-of-clinic options for testing and/or reporting on the aided performance experience. Future work will include an experimental validation of the proposed differentiated fitting, as well as a separate effort to investigate common denominators for patients with poor compensation benefits and options for out-of-clinic application of the proposed methods.
Collaboration and support by Innovation Fund Denmark (Grand Solutions 5164-00011B), Oticon, GN Resound, Widex and other partners (University of Southern Denmark, Aalborg University, the Technical University of Denmark, Force, and Aalborg, Odense and Copenhagen University Hospitals) is sincerely acknowledged.
15:20 pm – 17:20 pm
Anne Wolff* – Department of Otolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery and Audiology, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark
Jesper Hvass Schmidt, Sabina Storbjerg Houmøller – Department of ORL – Head & Neck Surgery and Audiology Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark; Department of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark; OPEN, Odense Patient data Explorative Network, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark
Vijay Narne – Department of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
Dan Dupont Hougaard, Michael Gaihede – Department of Otolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery and Audiology, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark; Department of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
Gérard Loquet – Department of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark; Department of Electronic Systems, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
Dorte Hammershøi – Department of Electronic Systems, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
15D is a standardized, self-administered, generic questionnaire that provides a profile (D1-15 score) and a single index score (D15-score) as a measure of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) on a scale which ranges from zero to one. 15D also includes a question related to hearing (D3). When completed before and after hearing aid (HA) treatment the questionnaire can be used to assess the potential benefits of HA treatment related to HRQoL. Overall health status was collected by questionnaires (15D and a basic health-related questionnaire) before and two months after HA fitting. The study population (n=1536) comprised first time HA users (n=1096) and experienced HA users (n=440) enrolled in the BEAR project. HA resulted in improved mean score of D3 for both first time (∆D3: mean, SD (0.102; 0.19)) and experienced (∆D3: mean, SD (0.083; 0.20)) HA users after 2 months of HA use. Patients with “moderate to severe” and “severe” hearing loss, experienced a significant improvement in D3-HRQoL. The study supports that HA usage has a positive effect on HRQoL when looking at the hearing dimension. Degree of hearing loss alone does not explain the positive effect observed on D3-HRQoL. Therefore, additional parameters need to be studied in order to explain essential factors for patients with HL to be able to achieve an improvement of HRQoL following HA fitting.
15:20 pm – 17:20 pm
Sabina Storbjerg Houmoeller* – Department of ORL – Head & Neck Surgery and Audiology Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark; Institute of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark; OPEN, Odense Patient data Explorative Network, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark
Anne Wollf – Department of Otolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery and Audiology, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark
Vijay Narne – Institute of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
Gérard Loguet – Institute of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark; Department of Electronic Systems, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
Dan Dupont Hougaard – Department of Otolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgey and Audiology, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark; Institute of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
Dorte Hammershøi – Department of Electronic Systems, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
Christian Godballe, Jesper Hvaas Schmidt – Department of ORL – Head & Neck Surgery and Audiology Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark; Institute of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark; OPEN, Odense Patient data Explorative Network, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark
Background: Hearing aid (HA) satisfaction is assessed by the self-administered International Outcome Inventory of Hearing Aids (IOI-HA) questionnaire. Objectives: The aims of the current study were to investigate the level of HA satisfaction for experienced and first time HA users, and to evaluate any difference between self-reported and objectively measured HA usage time (through data logging). Design: Self-reported questionnaire survey. Patients enrolled in the national BEAR project, from January 2017 to January 2018, answered the seven-item IOI-HA questionnaire targeting different hearing outcome domains; each scored from 1-5. Data logged HA usage time was obtained at two months follow-up visits and compared to the self-reported usage time obtained from the initial IOI-HA questionnaire item. Results: The study population (n=1649) comprised of both experienced (n=458) and first time HA users (n=1191). Total mean IOI-HA scores for experienced HA users increased by ∆0,36 (SD=0,92). Differences in levels of satisfaction between the two groups were further analyzed. Moreover, data logged usage time for experienced users was 10.4 hours (SD=5,10) and 8.35 hours (SD=1,02) for first time users. 15,9% of experienced users (n=422) reported in average a usage time from 4 to 8 hours whereas 21,5% of first time users (n=1152) reported in average 4 to 8 hours usage time.
15:00 pm – 17:00 pm
Katja Lund*, Rodrigo Ordoñez – Department of Electronic Systems, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
Jens Bo Nielsen – Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark
Dorte Hammershøi – Department of Electronic Systems, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
The aim of the present pilot study was to assess daily life experiences of new hearing aid users and explore ways to utilize these assessments in a follow-up situation with the hearing care provider. The method was designed as an online pass-time activity, where the patients swipe through the randomly presented experiences, and select the ones they have had recently. The sentences were expected to evoke the memory of recent experiences and provide a language for the patients to describe these. Thirty new hearing aid users were included in the study. Data were collected over a period of two months and consisted of 453 pre-fabricated sentences representing experiences related to HA use. Each sentence correlated with one of 13 categories covering both auditory and non-auditory aspects. Data for each patient was visualized to elucidate both short- and long-term challenges and successes experienced, as well as irrelevant and not experienced situations. Presently the first three patients included in the study have completed a two-month follow-up. The overall response rate is 63% taking into account that some patients may not have started the log activity yet as the work is ongoing.
15:00 pm – 17:00 pm
Raul Sanchez-Lopez*, Michal Fereczkowski – Hearing Systems Section, Dept. of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
Tobias Neher – Institute of Clinical Research, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
Sébastien Santurette – Hearing Systems Section, Dept. of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark; Oticon A/S, Smørum, Denmark
Torsten Dau – Hearing Systems Section, Dept. of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
Currently, clinical characterization of hearing deficits for hearing-aid fitting is based on the pure-tone audiogram. Implicitly, this assumes that the audiogram can predict performance in complex, supra-threshold tasks. Sanchez-Lopez et al. (2018) hypothesized that the hearing deficits of a given listener, both at threshold and supra-threshold levels, result from two independent types of auditory distortions. The authors performed a data-driven analysis of two large datasets with results from several tests, which led to the identification of four auditory profiles. However, the definition of the two types of distortion was challenged by differences between the two datasets in terms of the tests and listeners used. In the Better hEAring Rehabilitation (BEAR) project, a new dataset was generated with the aim of overcoming these limitations. A heterogeneous group of listeners was tested using measures of speech intelligibility, loudness perception, binaural processing abilities and spectro-temporal resolution. Consequently, the auditory profiles of Sanchez-Lopez et al. (2018) were refined. The resultant findings are discussed in connection to previous approaches for hearing-loss classification. The updated auditory profiles, together with the investigation of optimal hearing-aid compensation strategies, may form a solid basis for efficient hearing-aid fitting.
15:00 pm – 17:00 pm
Mengfan Wu* – Institute of Clinical Research, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
Raul Sanchez-Lopez – Hearing Systems Section, Department of Electrical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
Mouhamad El-Haj-Ali – Institute of Clinical Research, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
Silje Grini Nielden, Michal Fereczkowski, Torsten Dau – Hearing Systems Section, Department of Electrical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
Sébastien Santurette – Hearing Systems Section, Department of Electrical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark; Oticon A/S, Smørum, Denmark
Tobias Neher – Institute of Clinical Research, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
The current study forms part of the Better hEAring Rehabilitation (BEAR) project, which aims at developing new clinical tools for characterizing individual hearing loss and for assessing hearing-aid (HA) benefit. Its purpose was to evaluate the interaction between four auditory profiles and three measures of HA outcome obtained for six HA processing strategies. Measurements were carried out in a realistic noise environment at signal-to-noise ratios that were set based on individual speech reception thresholds (‘test SNRs’). Speech recognition scores and ratings of overall quality and noise annoyance were collected in two spatial conditions. The stimuli were generated with the help of a HA simulator and presented via headphones to 60 older habitual HA users who had previously been profiled based on a data-driven approach (Sanchez-Lopez et al., Trends in Hearing 2018). The four auditory profiles differed significantly in terms of the test SNRs and interacted significantly with the HA processing strategies for speech recognition in one spatial condition. Moreover, the correlations between the speech recognition scores and subjective ratings differed among the auditory profiles. However, the HA processing strategies leading to the best outcomes were similar across the four auditory profiles.
15:20 pm – 17:20 pm
Sreeram Kaithali Narayanan* – Department of Electronics System, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
Tobias Pieckowiak – GN Resound A/S, Ballerup, Denmark
Anne Wolff – Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark
Sabina S Houmøller – Department of Oto-rhino-laryngology, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark
Vijay Narne – Institute of Clinical Research, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
Gérard Sylvian Jean Marie Loquet – Department of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
Dan Dupont Hougaard, Michael L Gaihede – Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark
Jesper Hvass Schmidt – Department of Oto-rhino-laryngology, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark
Dorte Hammershøi – Department of Electronics System, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
Speech understanding in noisy environments has been the most desired hearing aid (HA) benefit sought by hearing aid users. This paper examines the possibility of developing a speech related HA benefit index from correlated speech related questions from three different self-reported questionnaire’s (SSQ12, IOI-HA, and 15D). The 4 questions in SSQ12 (question number 1,4,11 and 12), 3 questions in IOI-HA(question number 3,5 and 6) and 3rd question from health-related quality of life questionnaire 15D relating to speech were found correlated and are chosen for further analysis. After the normalization of the relevant questions, a principal component analysis (PCA) is used to reduce the dimensionality and determine the coefficients. The resultant coefficients are used to create a common speech related HA benefit index.
15:20 pm – 17:20 pm
Line Nim Lorentzen* – Institute of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark. : OPEN, Odense Patient data Explorative Network, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark
Anne Wolff – Department of Otolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery and Audiology, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark
Vijaya K. Narne, Jesper Hvass Schmidt – Institute of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark. : OPEN, Odense Patient data Explorative Network, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark
Objective: To test the validity and reliability of the Danish version of the Speech, Spatial and Qualities in Hearing Scale 12 (DK-SSQ12). To this day, a test-retest reliability study of any translation of the SSQ12 has not been conducted. To study the correlation of quality of hearing and Quality of Life (QoL) we wish to investigate the correlation between the DK-SSQ12 and the hearing domain of the Quality of Life questionnaire, 15D, domain 3. Study sample: 1961 participants in the Better hEAring Rehabilitation project was included in population group A. Forty-one subjects without hearing aids and 52 subjects with hearing aids from group A were recruited to population group B. Design: Population group A tested the internal validity of the DK-SSQ12, using Cronbach’s alpha (CA). Population group B tested the reliability of the DK-SSQ12 assessing the Inter Correlation Coefficient (ICC). The DK-SSQ12 was distributed twice with a two-week interwall. Spearman’s rho was applied to test the correlation of DK-SSQ12 and 15D, 3. Results: The CA, divided into three domains of the DK-SSQ12, ranged from 0.89-0.91 in the Speech domain, 0.81-0.91 in the Spatial domain and 0.75-0.81 in the Qualities domain. Group B showed an ICC of 0.66-0.89 (95% CI 0.44-0.94). All domains of the SSQ12 is significantly correlated to the 15D question 3.
15:20 pm – 17:20 pm
Palle Rye*, Rodrigo Ordoñez – Department of Electronic Systems, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
Anne Wolff, Dan Dupont Hougaard – Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark
Jesper Hvass Schmidt – Department of Oto-rhino-laryngology, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark
Dorte Hammershøi – Department of Electronic Systems, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
Out-of-clinic diagnostics offer the advantage of pre- and post-clinical screenings and potential benefits of increased user ownership, but at the possible cost of accuracy and reliability. The present study examines the determination of a classical audiometric threshold through a custom-made self-administered tablet test, utilizing off-the-shelf Bluetooth headphones. The test includes an initial familiarization session allowing characterization of the user’s response time, and integrates a standard usability assessment (System Usability Scale, SUS) accompanied by the experimenter’s observations and exit-interview responses. The study compares self-administered thresholds determined in the waiting room of Aalborg University Hospital for 16 potential hearing-aid users with the thresholds determined by the professionals in the subsequent session. The study also includes a comparison of thresholds determined in potential users’ own homes, in which case the test is performed both with a standard transportable audiometer and with the out-of-clinic tablet system. The study is on-going.
SP.58 – Hearing aids in the drawer: Usage time as a function of auditory and non-auditory factors
15:20 pm – 17:20 pm
Mads Christiansen, Alexander Ibsen, Jens-Ulrik Hansen, Tobias Piechowiak* – Roskilde University Center
The BEAR project is a Danish national audiological project scheduled to run for 5 years from 2016. The overall aim of the project is to improve hearing rehabilitation in Denmark through a revision of current clinical practice. Based on results obtained in the BEAR project, a revised clinical protocol will be suggested, if possible. Potential benefits resulting from the project may have important impact both nationally and internationally. In Denmark, approximately 500,000 – 800,000 people have a treatable hearing loss and around 300,000 people own a hearing aid. However, a large portion (20%) of owners do not use their HAs regularly and the underlying reasons for this are not well understood, but one must conclude that these owners do not sufficiently benefit from their devices. This results in wasted clinical resources and a lack of rehabilitation for people with hearing-impairment. Literature suggest possible causes as to why a significant number of patients do not use their HA regularly: insufficient awareness of hearing difficulties, alternate coping strategies, personality, low trust in the benefit from hearing aids, cognitive and functional restrictions and social stigma. In this study, these literature claims were investigated with the help of the BEAR database.
SP.59 – Using the BEAR data to obtain shortened version of the SSQ-12 and IOI-HA
15:00 pm – 17:00 pm
Tobias Piechowiak*, – GN Resound
David A. Zapala – Mayo Clinic
The Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing scale (SSQ-12) and the International Outcome Inventory for Hearing Aids (IOI-HA-7) are questionnaires containing 12 and 7 items, respectively. They are designed to subjectively assess hearing ability and are complementary to behavioral measures. Both questionnaires have been applied across a range of clinical and clinical research-related contexts, for example for assessing outcomes of e.g. cochlear implants and hearing aids. However, due to time constraints neither of the questionnaires seem to be an inherent part of standard clinical quality control. The Better Hearing Rehabilitation (BEAR) database contains SSQ-12 and IOI-HA-7 scores of around 2000 subjects. Applying an explanatory factor analysis (EFA) allowed us to reduce the SSQ-12 to 5 questions and the IOI-HA to 3 remaining questions. The SSQ-5 explains 77% of the variance in the SSQ-12 data while the IOI-HA-3 accounts for 69% of the variance in the original IOI-HA-7 dataset. We judge that these new versions can be used more efficiently by shortening time and focusing on the items that are most effective to reflect individual benefit. Furthermore, the analysis seems to confirm the validity of such a reduction from similar findings in the literature that were done on different datasets.
15:00 pm – 17:00 pm
Dorte Hammershøi* – Department of Electronic Systems, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
Anne Wolff – Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark
Lykke Junker Andersen, Rikke Louise Mortensen, Mads Dalsgaard Nielsen, Stefanie Aagaard Skov Larsen – Master program in Engineering Psychology, School of Information and Communication Technology, Aalborg University
The purpose of the present study was to identify the terms hearing aid professionals and their patients use in the communication about the aided listening experience and develop scales that would help characterize this experience in the domain of corrective actions that a hearing care professional may apply. The study comprised a word elicitation study based on observations and interviews from 18 examinations, involving 7 audiologists, 2 medical audiologists, and 15 adult patients from the audiological department at Aalborg University Hospital. The words patients and professionals used for describing the aided listening experience were itemized, noted on cards, and analyzed by developing an affinity diagram. The resulting 80 words were then sorted by three hearing professionals in a supervised card sorting session, leaving 65 attributes (grouped in 13 main categories) that was considered suitable for suggesting corrective actions. These 65 attributes were included in a 63-point scale design, which (in a usability test including 8 hearing aid users) were considered easy to survey and use, but also including some redundancy and ambiguities. The results suggest that it is possible to develop scales based on the voluntary statements expressed during actual consultations, but that the expressions may not be interpreted the same way by other patients and professionals.
BEAR deltager ved ISAAR 2019, fra venstre: Dorte Hammershøi, Lin Nim Lorentzen, Anne Wolff, Sabina Storbjerg Houmøller, Nikolai Bisgaard, Palle Rye, Torsten Dau, Katja Lund, Jesper Hvass Schmidt, Sreeram Kaithali Narayanan, Carsten Daugaard, James Michael Harte, Tobias Piechowiak, Jakob Christensen-Dalgaard, Mengfan Wu, Philip Marchmann Rønne, Tobias Neher, Ture Damann Andersen, Raul Sanchez-Lopez, Bue Kristensen.
