Question
How long will it take for a Patient to Receive Maximum Benefit from Non-Linear Frequency Compression (NFC)?
Answer
Most subjects show some initial benefit at the time of fitting, but there is evidence with children that performance can continue to improve over at least six months’ time after initial NFC fittings.
Data published by Wolfe and colleagues (2011) showed that a group of 15 children with moderate to moderately-severe hearing loss continued to improve on recognition of high-frequency phonemes and listening in noise at 6 months of NFC use compared to data collected after 6 weeks of use. This study shows there is some acclimatization effect with NFC.
Ellis (2012) also showed limited evidence of some acclimatization period with adults using NFC.
This Ask the Expert was taken from the article and text course, Sound Bytes on SoundRecover – view the complete article for more information.
References
Ellis, R. J. (2012). Benefit and predictors of outcome from frequency compression hearing aid use. A thesis submitted to the University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences.
Wolfe, J., John, A., Schafer, E., Nyffeler, M., Boretzki, M., & Caraway, T., et al. (2011). Long-term effects of non-linear frequency compression for children with moderate hearing loss. International Journal of Audiology, 50(6), 396–404. doi: 10.3109/14992027.2010.551788.
For more information, please visit www.phonakpro.com or the Phonak Expo Page on AudiologyOnline.
