Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
JAREM, cilt.15, sa.3, ss.137-145, 2025 (ESCI, TRDizin)
Objective: The speech perception performance of hearing aid users decreases in the presence of noise. The most effective way to improve speech intelligibility in noise is to use directional microphones close to the sound source. This study aims to investigate the effect of asymmetric directionality, a microphone directionality mode, on speech intelligibility in difficult listening conditions, while maintaining environmental awareness through a mechanism acting like the human ear. Methods: The study included 32 participants aged 20-50 years with bilateral flat moderate-to-moderately severe sensorineural hearing loss. At the time of assessment, participants used hearing aids bilaterally, with the fitting performed using the Real Ear Measurement method. Speech performance in noise across various microphone directional modes was evaluated using the Turkish Matrix test. Results: According to the obtained data, a significant signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) increase was found for all microphone directionality modes when comparing the adaptive procedure in quiet and noisy conditions (p<0.01). A significant correlation was also found between the adaptive noise and non-adaptive procedures in terms of performance gain (p<0.01). In the asymmetric directionality mode, a statistically significant higher performance was observed compared to the omnidirectional mode (p<0.05). Conclusion: Our study has revealed that the narrow and asymmetric directionality modes of the microphone improve speech performance by enhancing the SNR in noisy environments. We also concluded that asymmetric directional microphones proved more advantageous than the omnidirectional mode.