Development of Hearing Aid Gain for Korean Hearing Impaired version 2.0 Considering Levels and Spectra of Korean Conversational Speech, and Preferred Gain

Correspondence: Kyoungwon Lee, PhD Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, Hallym University of Graduate Studies, 427 Yeoksam-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul 06197, Korea Tel: +82-2-2051-4951 Fax: +82-2-3453-6618 E-mail: hearing1004@naver.com Purpose: This study aimed to report the development of Hearing Aid Gain for Korean Hearing Impaired version 2.0 (HAG-K v2.0), the Korean-type hearing aid fitting formula to improve the satisfaction of hearing aids and the communication ability of the Korean hearing impaired. Methods: HAG-K v2.0 was compared to NAL-NL2 with real-ear insertion gain (REIG) of the Korean hearing impaired, which was produced by considering most comfortable level and uncomfortable level, the levels and spectra of Korean conversational speech, band importance function, and preferred gain. Results: When REIG produced from HAG-K v2.0 was compared to NAL-NL2, it resulted low at HTL 40 and 80 dB HL and the compression threshold of HAG-K v2.0 was higher in all HTL compared to NAL-NL2. And the compression ratio was high at HTL 40 dB HL for NAL-NL2 and at 80 dB HL for HAG-K v2.0. Conclusion: HAG-K v2.0 developed in this study is the initial version of the Korean-type hearing aid fitting formula considering the characteristics of Korean conversational speech levels, spectra and preferred gain. With the systematic corrections and supplements for HAG-K v2.0 in the future, the Korean hearing impaired would benefit from this formula in electroacoustic control of the hearing aids.