Comparison of programmable and digital hearing aids benefit with using APHAB questionnaire

Introduction:The use of digital hearing aid in the world is increasing and the potential subject of much debate. Benefit of this hearing aid are not defined. There fore, the aim of this study was to measurement the digital hearing aid benefit and comparison it,with programmable hearing aid benefit. Materials and Methods: Forty interested subjects with the mean age of ۵۲.۱۲ with the of years range ۳۰to۷۰ with audiometric profiles consistent with hearing aid candidacy participat- ed in this study. Programmable H.A was fit for ۲۱ subjects and digital H.A for ۱۹ subjects. Each subject was given the Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit (APHAB) to complete for unaided and aided conditions. Results: No statistically significant differences were found in the APHAB benefit scores between the hearing aid sets (P=۰.۰۵۱).but digital H.A were significantly better programmable H.A on one of the four subscales (P=۰.۰۲). Conclusion: The APHAB scores did not indicate clear difference between the systems, despite potential advantages of digital H.A over analog and programmable H.A.