Frequency modulation systems in hearing impaired children: outcome evaluation.

Purpose: To evaluate the speech perception of hearing impaired children fitted with hearing aids and frequency modulation (FM) system in noisy environments, as well as in the classroom. Methods: Participants were 13 hearing impaired children with ages between 7 and 17 years. The Hearing in Noise Test (HINT) was applied with hearing aids and with FM systems. The FM System Evaluation Questionnaire was answered by the children's teachers, in order to assess individually the children's performances in different hearing situations wearing only hearing aids, and with both the hearing aid and an FM system. Results: Difference was found for every situation with and without FM in the HINT. The same holds true for the results obtained with the questionnaire, and the score without the FM system was always lower than with FM, regardless of the condition. Conclusion: The use of subjective measures, such as the questionnaire, is essential to determine the efficacy of recommending auxiliary devices for hearing impaired people. The FM system's effectiveness can be observed by the "FM advantage", which is the mean minimum difference of 10 dB found in speech perception assessments with and without FM in noisy situations. The benefits found in this study with the use of FM systems for better speech perception might be extrapolated not only to the classroom and inclusive education legislation, but also to social and recreational activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]