Introduction
Hearing difficulties can have severe impacts on daily communication and social interactions. A substantial proportion of people seeking help from hearing care professionals due to hearing difficulties are found to have clinically normal hearing. There is currently no standardized treatment for these patients, which leads them to be turned away without intervention. In this project, we aim to investigate what underlies these patients’ hearing difficulties, which of them may benefit from hearing-aid treatment, and whether we can provide meaningful treatment options.
Aims
In this project, we aim to identify relevant behavioral markers of hearing deficits that can be related to self-perceived hearing difficulties, as well as investigate avenues for identifying which patient may benefit from hearing-aid treatment. Furthermore, we aim to explore how we can best provide compensatory treatment for this population.
Methodology
This project will employ two approaches: one will be focused on controlled laboratory experiments, focused on assessing the auditory-cognitive profile of the participants and finding objective markers of their self-perceived hearing difficulties. The other will focus on treatment avenues, employing both controlled laboratory testing and investigations of the potential benefit of these different treatments in the real world.
