Amplification & Aural Rehabilitation Flashcards

Which type of automatic gain control (AGC) is designed to prevent listener discomfort by limiting the maximum output of the hearing aid?

Answer: AGC-O (output compression)

AGC-O (output compression) acts after the final amplifier stage to limit the peak output, protecting the listener from discomfort caused by loud sounds.

A child using a cochlear implant in an educational setting would MOST benefit from which additional technology to improve the signal-to-noise ratio?

Answer: A personal FM or Roger system coupled to the implant processor

A personal FM or Roger system transmits the teacher's voice directly to the cochlear implant processor, significantly improving the SNR in noisy, reverberant classroom environments.

The primary goal of auditory training in aural rehabilitation is to:

Answer: Improve the listener's ability to process and interpret auditory signals through practice

Auditory training uses structured listening exercises to improve the brain's ability to process and make sense of sounds, maximizing the benefit derived from amplification.

When fitting hearing aids using a probe microphone system, the 'REAR' (real-ear aided response) is compared to which target?

Answer: A prescriptive gain target such as NAL-NL2 or DSL v5

The REAR represents the sound pressure level measured at the eardrum with the hearing aid active, and it is compared against a prescriptive target (e.g., NAL-NL2 or DSL v5) to verify fitting accuracy.

Binaural hearing aid fitting compared to monaural fitting typically provides which advantage?

Answer: Improved localization and speech understanding in noise

Binaural fitting restores interaural level and timing cues, which are critical for sound localization and the binaural squelch effect that improves speech understanding in noise.

Which frequency-lowering strategy used in modern hearing aids shifts high-frequency energy down to a lower frequency region where the patient has better hearing?

Answer: Frequency compression or transposition

Frequency compression (or frequency transposition) shifts or compresses high-frequency speech cues into lower frequency regions where the patient retains more usable hearing.

An audiologist conducting communication strategy training in aural rehabilitation teaches a patient to ask a speaker to rephrase rather than repeat. This is an example of which strategy type?

Answer: Repair strategy

Repair strategies are used after communication breakdown has occurred; asking for rephrasing rather than verbatim repetition often provides more acoustic or contextual information to aid understanding.