Background: Patients with chronic tinnitus and mild-to-moderate hearing loss (HL) can experience difficulties with speech comprehension (SC). The present study investigated SC benefits of a two-component hearing therapy.
Methods: One-hundred-seventy-seven gender-stratified patients underwent binaural DSLchild-algorithm-based hearing aid (HA) fitting and conducted auditory training exercises. SC was measured at four timepoints under three noise interference conditions each (0, 55, and 65 dB): after screening (t0; without HAs), HA- fitting (t1), additional auditory training (t2), and at 70-day follow-up (t3). Repeated-measure analyses of covariance investigated the effects of HAs (t0-t1), auditory training (t1-t2), and the stability of the combined effect (t2-t3) on SC per noise interference level and HL subgroup. Correlational analyses examined associations between SC, age, and psychological indices.
Results: Patients showed mildly elevated tinnitus-related distress, which was negatively associated with SC in patients with mild but not moderate HL. At 0 dB, the intervention lastingly improved SC for patients with mild and moderate HL; at 55 dB, for patients with mild HL only. These effects were mainly driven by HAs.
Conclusions: The here-investigated treatment demonstrates some SC-benefit under conditions of no or little noise interference. The auditory training component warrants further investigation regarding non-audiological treatment outcomes.
Keywords: auditory training; hearing aids; mild-to-moderate hearing loss; psychological epiphenomena; tinnitus-related distress.