HIS Assistive Listening Devices & Hearing Assistive Technology 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A Bluetooth-enabled hearing aid connects to smartphones primarily using which Bluetooth protocol optimized for audio streaming to hearing aids?
- Classic Bluetooth (BR/EDR)
- Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) / LE Audio (Correct answer)
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Near-field communication (NFC)
Correct answer: Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) / LE Audio
Modern hearing aids use Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and the newer LE Audio standard to stream audio efficiently with minimal battery drain.
Question 2: When recommending a hearing loop system for a patient's home television viewing, the hearing instrument specialist should verify that the patient's hearing aids have which feature enabled?
- Directional microphones
- Telecoil (T-coil) (Correct answer)
- Feedback suppression
- Noise reduction algorithm
Correct answer: Telecoil (T-coil)
A hearing loop system transmits via electromagnetic induction that is only detected by the telecoil (T-coil) in hearing aids; this feature must be present and activated.
Question 3: Which type of closed captioning service provides real-time captions transcribed by a trained stenographer for live events?
- CART (Communication Access Real-Time Translation) (Correct answer)
- DVD subtitles
- Pre-recorded captions
- Automatic speech recognition (ASR) only
Correct answer: CART (Communication Access Real-Time Translation)
CART uses trained stenographers to produce real-time verbatim captions during live events, achieving higher accuracy than automated ASR alone.
Question 4: A remote microphone (RM) accessory used with hearing aids primarily improves which aspect of hearing in noisy environments?
- Low-frequency amplification
- Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) (Correct answer)
- Feedback cancellation
- Occlusion effect reduction
Correct answer: Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)
Remote microphones transmit the speaker's voice directly to the hearing aids, dramatically improving the signal-to-noise ratio by placing the microphone close to the sound source.
Question 5: An infrared assistive listening system is MOST suitable for which environment?
- Outdoor stadium events
- Indoor meeting rooms requiring confidentiality (Correct answer)
- Classrooms with large windows
- Areas with significant fluorescent lighting
Correct answer: Indoor meeting rooms requiring confidentiality
Infrared signals cannot pass through walls, making infrared systems ideal for confidential settings such as courtrooms and boardrooms where signal security is important.
Question 6: Which document, published by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), provides technical specifications and performance standards for hearing assistive technology systems in the U.S.?
- ANSI S3.22
- ANSI/TIA-1083 (Correct answer)
- ANSI A117.1
- ANSI/ASA S3.5
Correct answer: ANSI/TIA-1083
ANSI/TIA-1083 provides technical performance specifications for hearing aid-compatible handsets and related assistive listening devices used in the U.S.
Question 7: A patient reports that their FM receiver has significant static and dropout during use. Which troubleshooting step should be performed FIRST?
- Replace the FM receiver
- Verify that the transmitter and receiver are on the same frequency channel (Correct answer)
- Clean the ear canal and refit the hearing aid
- Update the hearing aid firmware
Correct answer: Verify that the transmitter and receiver are on the same frequency channel
Static and dropout in FM systems are most commonly caused by a channel mismatch between the transmitter and receiver; verifying channel synchronization is the first and simplest step.
HIS Assistive Listening Devices & Hearing Assistive Technology 2
A Bluetooth-enabled hearing aid connects to smartphones primarily using which Bluetooth protocol optimized for audio streaming to hearing aids?