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20Q: Frequency Lowering Ten Years Later - Evidence for Benefit

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1.  Challenges to applying the current research evidence on frequency lowering to an individual patient include: the majority of research has been done on one manufacturer's frequency lowering technology the data show mixed results with regard to benefit it is difficult to predict individual benefit from group data all of the above

2.  To help ensure frequency lowering is a benefit, and not a detriment, some experts recommend the following initial setting: maximum amount of frequency lowering (strongest setting) whatever the manufacturer's fitting software suggests weakest audible setting - minimum amount of frequency lowering that will make high frequency sounds audible minimum setting - lowest possible setting in the software

3.  When your measurements show that frequency lowering improves audibility for a patient, then: there will always be a corresponding improvement in speech recognition performance it is a first step toward ensuring benefit; verification/validation (and possible finetuning) is needed to see if there will be an improvement in speech recognition performance there will always be a decrement in speech recognition performance frequency lowering should be programmed at the maximum setting for maximum benefit

4.  Studies regarding acclimatization with frequency lowering: have consistently shown that only children show improvement after experience with frequency lowering have consistently shown that only adults show improvement after experience with frequency lowering have consistently shown that neither children nor adults show improvement after experience with frequency lowering have mixed findings; therefore a general conclusion that applies to all patients cannot be made at this time

5.  Which group may not be as likely to benefit from frequency lowering, according to the studies discussed? listeners with better spectral resolution listeners with mild or moderate high-frequency hearing loss individuals with poorer working memory capacity none of the above

6.  What general statement can be made about sound quality and frequency lowering? frequency lowering will introduce distortion, so you should incorporate measures of sound quality into your fitting process, along with counseling and finetuning as needed the stronger the frequency lowering setting, the better the sound quality sound quality is never impacted by frequency lowering only musicians or other audiophiles may notice a difference in sound quality from frequency lowering

7.  Manufacturers programming software may default to frequency lowering ON or frequency lowering OFF. When fitting hearing aids with frequency lowering, the audiologist should: determine the patient's audibility of high frequency sounds with the hearing aid by measuring the maximum audible output frequency to see if frequency lowering may be needed leave frequency lowering off or turn it off unless the patient comes back in with complaints of poor speech understanding let the programming software determine what is best for each patient leave frequency lowering on or turn it on so that all patients can benefit

8.  Research about frequency lowering is not conclusive when it comes to: using different settings or the same settings for the right and left ears whether frequency lowering helps with listening effort differences in frequency lowering algorithms between manufacturers all of the above

9.  This article mentions a study that used which of the following methods for verification of frequency lowering benefit in very young children? fMRI cortical measures electrocochleography TEN(HL) test

10.  At the time of this article, most published studies of frequency lowering to date have been done using: Phonak SoundRecover Phonak SoundRecover2 Oticon Speech Rescue Signia Frequency Compression