Influence of Auditory Training on Acceptable Noise Level Scores in Elderly Persons with Hearing Impairment

OBJECTIVE: To study the Influence of Auditory Training on acceptable noise level (ANL) scores in elderly persons with hearing impairment. DESIGN: Quasi-experimental study design. STUDY SAMPLE: A total of 20 bilateral mild to moderately severe sensorineural hearing loss participants with “high” ANL scores were taken into the study and randomly allocated to experimental and control groups. In the time frame, the experimental group provided 12 sessions of speech in noise training with a hearing aid and the baseline measures were repeated in both groups. RESULTS: The Acceptable noise level and Speech in Noise scores significantly improved post-training only in the experimental group. They also showed a significant difference “Client Oriented Scale of Improvement (COSI)” scale in the domain “Conversation in Noise”. CONCLUSIONS: Acceptable noise level is susceptible to training similar to that of speech in noise score. It provides hope to the individuals who are poor candidates to the hearing aids.