Hollowness perception with noise-reduction hearing aids.

The efficacy of "noise-reduction" hearing aids in reducing the hollowness perception of one's own voice during vocalization was examined. Binaural Siemens 283 ASP hearing aids were worn by 2 groups of listeners, one with primarily high-frequency loss (Group A) and one with loss in both high- and low-frequencies (Group B). Electroacoustic parameters on the hearing aids were adjusted initially for optimal hearing in the "no-noise reduction" mode by rating the clarity of a discourse passage while following an adaptive forced-choice procedure. Afterwards, subjects compared the effect of the noise-reduction circuitry by vocalizing at 3 different voice levels and scaled the clarity-hollowness of their voices using a 0-100 scale with each noise-reduction mode. Group A subjects did not show a significant change in hollowness perception with noise-reduction circuitry, whereas Group B subjects showed significant reduction of hollowness perception at soft and normal voice levels with noise-reduction circuitry. These results demonstrated that some present-day noise-reduction circuitry can be effective in improving some wearers' perceived voice quality during vocalization.