Principles of Hearing Aid Audiology, Second Edition
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Principles of Hearing Aid Audiology, Second Edition MARYANNE TATE MALTBY WHURR PUBLISHERS Tate & Maltby 3rd crc 13/12/01 12:11 pm Page i Principles of Hearing Aid Audiology Second Edition This page intentionally left blank Tate & Maltby 3rd crc 13/12/01 12:11 pm Page iii Principles of Hearing Aid Audiology MARYANNE TATE MALTBY DASED, BA, MEd, MSc, FSHAA, EdD, RHAD. HEARING AID AUDIOLOGIST AND AUDIOLOGICAL SCIENTIST Active Hearing, Boston Spa, W. Yorkshire and TRAINING OFFICER Ultravox Group, Wilmslow, Cheshire. W WHURR PUBLISHERS LONDON AND PHILADELPHIA Tate & Maltby 3rd crc 13/12/01 12:11 pm Page iv First Edition published 1994 by Chapman & Hall © Second edition 2002 Whurr Publishers Second edition published by Whurr Publishers Ltd 19b Compton Terrace, London N1 2UN, England and 325 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia PA 19106, USA All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of Whurr Publishers Limited. This publication is sold subject to the conditions that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed upon any subsequent purchaser. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN: 1 86156 257 8 Printed and bound in the UK by Athenaeum Press Ltd, Gateshead, Tyne & Wear Tate & Maltby 3rd crc 13/12/01 12:11 pm Page v Contents Foreword vii Acknowledgements ix Part one: Fundamental Sciences 1 1 Acoustics 3 2 Anatomy and physiology of the ear 21 3 Medical aspects of hearing loss 45 4 Speech and intelligibility 67 5 The basic hearing aid system 80 6 Digital hearing aids 106 Part two: The Practice of Hearing Aid Audiology 123 7 The assessment procedure 125 8 Hearing aids and their performance 154 9 Selection and fitting 185 10 Earmoulds 204 11 Evaluation 219 12 Client management and rehabilitation 235 Part three: Special Aspects of Hearing Aid Audiology 257 13 Assessment and management of special problems 259 14 Paediatric provision 290 Glossary 314 References 325 Index 331 v This page intentionally left blank Tate & Maltby 3rd crc 13/12/01 12:11 pm Page vii Foreword The second edition of Maryanne Maltby’s text Principles of Hearing Aid Audiology is both welcome and timely. At a time when we are seeing major changes in the UK in provision, technology and rehabilitative approaches in hearing aid audiology, students in training and experienced practi- tioners alike will find this text a mine of useful information. The text has been totally rewritten and updated from the first edition and contains elements basic to the practice of hearing aid audiology, together with a clear exposé of advanced modern thinking. Written by a person with a wealth of experience in both training and practical hearing aid fitting, Principles of Hearing Aid Audiology is a must for all prospective and practising hearing aid audiologists. It is absolutely relevant to the needs of today’s hearing aid dispenser who has a responsi- bility to furnish patients with ongoing experiences of excellence in clinical practice. The presentation of the material is clear and precise yet not excessively technical in style. A welcome addition to the recommended reading list of all major training courses for hearing aid dispensers, Principles of Hearing Aid Audiology will prove to be a cornerstone in training and ongoing educa- tion in both the UK and further afield. Michael Nolan BSc, PhD, MSHAA Registrar of the British Society of Hearing Aid Audiologists vii This page intentionally left blank Tate & Maltby 3rd crc 13/12/01 12:11 pm Page ix Acknowledgements I greatly appreciate the assistance given in the preparation of this new edition by: David Gaszczyk (BMI Healthcare) – graphs, computer diagrams and index. Karen Shepherd (A&M Hearing Ltd) – digital hearing aids. Roger Lewin (Phonak UK Ltd) – algorithms. Lesley Pestell (Starkey Ltd) – impressions. Peter Bodo (Rayovac UK Ltd) – battery specifications. I should also like to express my sincere thanks to all those who helped or encouraged me in any way and especially to Roger Lewin, David Gaszczyk, Paul Weston and Robert Rendell for their comments. Maryanne Tate Maltby ix This page intentionally left blank Tate & Maltby 3rd crc 13/12/01 12:11 pm Page 1 PART ONE Fundamental Sciences 1 This page intentionally left blank Tate & Maltby 3rd crc 13/12/01 12:11 pm Page 3 Chapter 1 Acoustics 1.1 PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF SOUND 1.1.1 Sound generation Sound requires a source, a medium through which to travel and a detector. The detector is usually a listener but could be a sound measuring device (for example, a sound level meter). Sound is generated by a vibrating object and is transmitted through an elastic medium or substance: gas, liquid or solid. In air, the sound source sets the air particles into vibration, in the same back and forth motion as that of the vibrating sound source. The medium itself is not transferred to the detector; each particle is displaced only a very small distance from its resting position (equilibrium). The energy is passed across the medium as a series of compressions and rarefactions (Figure 1.1). This constitutes a sound wave. In compressions, the air particles move closer together and the air pressure is slightly higher than normal; in rarefactions, the particles move away from each other and the air pressure is slightly lower than normal. The speed of sound varies with the density of the medium through which it travels. The denser the medium, the faster sound travels. For example, the speed of sound in air is approximately 340 metres per second but in water, which is a denser medium, sound travels at approxi- mately 1450 metres per second. Sound becomes weaker with increasing distance from the source. If there are no obstacles to affect the progress of the sound waves, the decrease in intensity will be in accordance with the inverse square law. This states that the intensity varies inversely with the square of the distance from the sound source (Figure 1.2). In other words, doubling the distance decreases the intensity by a factor of 4 (22). 3 Tate & Maltby 3rd crc 13/12/01 12:11 pm Page 4 4 Principles of Hearing Aid Audiology Figure 1.1. The tines of the tuning fork move alternately towards and apart from each other causing alternate regions of compression and rarefaction that move outwards through the air. Figure 1.2. As distance away from the sound source increases, the sound level falls in accordance with the inverse square law. Tate & Maltby 3rd crc 13/12/01 12:11 pm Page 5 Acoustics 5 1.1.2 Properties of sound The simplest waveform is a sine wave or sinusoid. A sine wave is produced by simple harmonic motion, where each vibration is repeated back and forth. This motion repeats itself exactly in equal periods of time and is known as periodic motion. Sinusoidal sound waves are very clean or pure sounds and are therefore termed simple or pure tones. A pure tone can be described by three characteristics: frequency, intensity and duration. (a) Frequency The frequency of a sound is denoted by the number of cycles of vibration that occur in one second. A cycle consists of one compression and one rarefaction of air particles. It can perhaps be better visualized as the movement of a pendulum. In a complete cycle, the pendulum would move from its resting position A to a position to one side B, then back through the resting position A to the other side C, and back to the resting position (Figure 1.3). If it takes one second to complete one full cycle, the frequency is 1 cycle per second (cps) or 1 hertz (Hz); 10 Hz, therefore, means 10 cps. Cycles per second are termed hertz after Heinrich Hertz, a nineteenth- century German physicist. The more cycles that occur in one second, the higher is the frequency of the sound. An electric motor, for example, can readily be heard to produce a higher frequency sound as its speed is increased. Pitch is the subjective attribute of frequency and is closely related to frequency. The higher the frequency, the higher the pitch. However, as pitch is subjective, it cannot be measured directly. The piano produces its lowest note at 27.5 Hz and its highest at 4186 Hz; middle C is 261.63 Hz (Somerfield, 1987). The human ear can detect a Figure 1.3. A complete cycle of the pendulum is shown by movement from A to B, from B to C and from C back to A. Tate & Maltby 3rd crc 13/12/01 12:11 pm Page 6 6 Principles of Hearing Aid Audiology much wider frequency range than this and the young healthy ear can perceive a frequency range from approximately 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz (20 kHz). Sounds below this frequency range are called infrasonic and those above this range are called ultrasonic. The wavelength is defined as the distance covered by one complete cycle. Wavelength is inversely proportional to frequency and can be determined using the formula: speed (v) wavelength (λ) = frequency (f) As frequency increases, wavelength decreases. The speed of sound in air is approximately 340 metres per second (m/s). So, for example, if the frequency of a sound wave is 850 Hz, the wavelength in air will be: 340 m/s = 0.4 m 850 Hz (b) Period The time required for one cycle is known as the period (Figure 1.4).