Effect of Monaural Hearing Aid Use on Dichotic Test Results for Individuals with High-Frequency Hearing Impairment

¹ Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, DC

It is well documented that the majority of individuals with normal hearing have a right ear advantage for dichotic speech material. There is evidence, however, that individuals with flat sensorineural hearing loss demonstrate a left ear advantage after they have used amplification on the left side. The present study examined whether these findings could be extended to a population with high-frequency hearing impairment. The subjects were administered dichotic consonant-vowel syllable tests prior to a monaural hearing aid fitting, and the tests were repeated after 1 month and again after 6 months of hearing aid use. The results revealed a group right ear advantage prior to the hearing aid fitting, although there was considerable individual variability. No consistent changes in the test scores were shown to be associated with monaural hearing aid use in either the right ear or the left ear.