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Why Open Hearing Aid Fittings are Often Not the Best Choice for the Patient

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1.  One of the pioneers of earmold acoustics, writing many book chapters on the topic, was this person? Jim Jerger Ray Carhart Ira Hirsch Sam Lybarger

2.  In the 1990s, in the U.S., the market share for custom instruments was as high as: 20% 40% 60% 80%

3.  BTEs and open fittings gained popularity in the early 2000s because of: Smaller BTE products Thin discrete fitting tubes Improved feedback reduction systems All of the above

4.  A potential downside of a closed fitting is: Unnatural sound of patient's own voice Leakage of low frequencies Increased feedback All of the above

5.  To evaluate the differences between the different earmold coupling arrangements, laboratory testing consisted of: Only speech-in-noise testing Only localization testing Speech in noise, speech in quiet and subjective judgements Only subjective judgements

6.  Laboratory ratings of speech understanding revealed: A clear advantage for the open fitting A clear advantage for the click sleeve A clear advantage for the custom closed mold Very similar findings for all three conditions

7.  Laboratory testing of speech recognition in quiet revealed: A clear advantage for the open fitting A clear advantage for the click sleeve A clear advantage for the custom closed mold Very similar findings for all three conditions

8.  Laboratory testing of speech recognition in background noise revealed: A sizeable advantage for the open fitting A sizeable advantage for for both the click sleeve and the closed mold A sizeable advantage for only the custom closed mold A sizeable advantage for only the click sleeve

9.  Real world ratings showed a 5-10% advantage for the two closed earmold conditions for the following listening situation: Speech in background noise Speech in quiet Listening to music Listening to TV

10.  The authors review a previous similar earmold study, in which the closed couplings were significantly better than open fittings. What was the SNR benefit for closed vs. open in this earlier study? 1 dB 3 dB 6 dB 10 dB