Starkey Frequency Lowering Validation for Neuro and Thrive Platforms Instructions

: June 13, 2024
: Starkey

Table of Contents

Starkey Frequency Lowering Validation for Neuro and Thrive Platforms
Product Information: Neuro & Thrive Platforms
Frequency Lowering Validation
instructions for Live Voice Validation
Follow-Up Adjustment Guide
- Plural Word Lists for Frequency Lowering Validation
Tips
Read User Manual Online (PDF format)
Download This Manual (PDF format)

Starkey Frequency Lowering Validation for Neuro and Thrive Platforms

Product Information: Neuro & Thrive Platforms

The Neuro & Thrive Platforms are advanced hearing aid systems designed to provide improved sound quality and intelligibility for users. These platforms incorporate features such as frequency lowering, adjustment guides, patient reports, and own voice optimization.

Frequency Lowering Validation

The frequency lowering feature helps users with high-frequency hearing loss by shifting high-frequency sounds to lower frequencies where they can be heard more easily. To validate the effectiveness of frequency lowering, follow the instructions below:

Turn off frequency lowering.
Present words from a plural word list (available on page 2) while masking lipreading cues.
Ask the patient to repeat the word.
Mark the response as correct or incorrect.
Calculate the patient’s score in percent correct.
Turn on frequency lowering and use an alternate word list to repeat the test and obtain the patient’s score.
Compare the patient’s scores to evaluate the effectiveness of frequency lowering.

instructions for Live Voice Validation

With frequency lowering off, present words from a plural word list (available on page 2) while masking lipreading cues.
Ask the patient to repeat the word.
Mark the response as correct or incorrect.
Calculate the patient’s score in percent correct.
With frequency lowering on, use an alternate list and repeat test to obtain the patient’s score.
Compare patient’s scores:
- The goal is for the patient to achieve an improvement in performance feature ON versus OFF (ideally greater than or equal to 20%)
- If improvement is not achieved, increase Gain in 1 dB steps and re-evaluate performance
- If approximately two or three increases in Gain do not yield better performance, return the Gain to 3 dB and increase the Bandwidth setting by one step and re-evaluate performance.
- Continue to adjust Gain and/or Bandwidth as needed to achieve a performance improvement
- Ensure that final settings are comfortable for the patient
  NOTE: At the time of the first fitting with frequency lowering, the professional should focus on adjustments required to maximize benefit and ensure comfort. The patient’s report of sound quality should be considered at the time of follow-up once a period of acclimatization has been provided to ensure that intial settings are not adjusted to levels that would be unhelpful.
Use the Fitting Adjustment Guide below to make adjustments for sound quality, if needed at a follow-up visit. Repeat behavioral validation procedure to ensure settings provide patient benefit.

Follow-Up Adjustment Guide

The follow-up adjustment guide helps in fine-tuning the settings of the hearing aid based on specific issues reported by the patient. The guide provides recommendations for adjusting gain, bandwidth, and other parameters to address common issues such as own voice distortion, unnatural sounds, difficulty detectingcertain sounds, and sound quality artifacts.

	Patient Report	Adjustment	Considerations

OWN VOICE

| Own voice sounds like static or echo| Decrease Grain, Decrease Bandwidth| Adjust Gain first. If reports persist, adjust Bandwidth.

INTELLIGIBILITY

|

/s/ sounds too lispy

|

Decrease Gain

| Keep in mind that a slight ‘lisp’ on /s/ sounds is normal.
/s/ sounds too unnatural| Decrease Bandwidth|
Difficulty detecting /s/sounds or identifying plural sounds| Increase Gain Increase Bandwidth| Adjust Gain first. If report persists, adjust Bandwidth.

Other voices echo

| Decrease Bandwidth Decrease Gain| Adjust Bandwidth first. If report persists, adjust Gain.

SOUND QUALITY

| Echo or lisp artifacts| Decrease Bandwidth| Alternatively decrease Bandwidth and Gain until report is resolved.
Processing too noticeable| Decrease Gain

Patient Report

The patient report feature allows clinicians to generate reports based on the patient’s usage and performance. These reports can help in tracking progress, identifying areas of improvement, and making informed adjustments to optimize the hearing aid settingsfor individual users.

Tips

After the initial acclimatization period, it is recommended to validate any changes made in the settings to ensure they provide maximum benefit to the patient.

Plural Word Lists for Frequency Lowering Validation

Use the following word lists during frequency lowering validation:

List 1	List 2	List 3
Key	Play	Coat
Days	Ears	Floors
Plays	Keys	Signs
Toys	Clouds	Eye
Cities	Brick	Book
Bricks	City	Frogs
Pig	Way	Boat
Cloud	Toys	Card
Ways	Pigs	Cave
Ear	Day	Pen
List 1	Score

Score
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---
Key| | Play| | Coats|
Days| | Ears| | Floor|
Plays| | Keys| | Signs|
Toys| | Clouds| | Eye|
Cities| | Brick| | Book|
Bricks| | City| | Frogs|
Pig| | Way| | Boats|
Cloud| | Toys| | Card|
Ways| | Pigs| | Caves|
Ear| | Day| | Pen|
TOTAL:| TOTAL:| TOTAL:

There are additional word lists available for further validation.

Tips

Consider using more than 10 words per condition for greater reliability
Have a family member or friend present the words to the patient to assess benefit using a more meaningful voice
Introduce a greater distance between speaker and patient to make the task more challenging
Consider repeating the behavioral validation procedure at the time of follow-up to look for further improvement following acclimatization and/or to validate any change made in settings designed to make the feature more advantageous to the patient

The Starkey logo and Thrive are trademarks of Starkey Laboratories, Inc.