PP326 - Can Adolescent Hearing Aid Wearers Control Their Hearing Aids Through Tap?

Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to evaluate tapping the side of a hearing aid as a means of controlling hearing aid streaming. Adolescent hearing aid wearers were fit with research hearing aids. All participants successfully demonstrated the ability to use Tap Control in the laboratory. After a field trial, most participants reported they preferred Tap Control for controlling streaming and answering phone calls. Participants were less willing to use Tap Control to access the voice assistant. Clinicians who are fitting adolescents with hearing aids could consider providing this method for hearing aid control, especially for streaming and phone calls.

Summary:
Objective: With the rapid deployment of wireless streaming from a smartphone to hearing aids, it is becoming increasingly important to ensure that hearing aid users feel comfortable controlling the streaming to their hearing aids. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential utility of tapping on the side of a hearing aid (tapping) as a means of controlling a streamed signal for adolescents. Specifically, it was of interest to determine if pre-teens and teenagers could be successfully trained to use tapping to control streaming and if this population when given the option, would choose to use the tap feature. It has been observed that while program control has historically been accomplished through buttons or switches on hearing aids, these form features have not been consistently utilized by adults or children, with most wearers choosing to rely on automatic switching. This study explored whether adolescents would choose to use tapping over opening their smartphone for streaming purposes.

Methods:
Eighteen adolescents (aged 10-17 years) with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss and at least 1 year of hearing aid experience were fit with research hearing aids. During a laboratory visit, the research hearing aids were programmed for the participants and the hearing aids were connected to a smartphone for wireless streaming and phone connectivity. For most participants (n = 17) the smartphone was an Apple phone. Participants were then trained to use ‘Tap Control’ as a means for controlling wireless streaming, phone calls, and voice assistants in their smartphones. Participants were evaluated on their success using the Tap Control feature. They then wore the hearing aids at home for approximately one week and then completed surveys about their perception of the benefits and limitations of this method of hearing aid control compared to more traditional methods.

Results:
All participants successfully demonstrated the ability to use Tap Control after a brief training. They were able to successfully double tap each hearing aid to activate Tap Control and demonstrated the ability to pause/play streaming, answer a telephone call, and activate the voice assistant (e.g., Siri, Alexa). Most participants reported they preferred Tap Control for controlling streaming (61%) and answering phone calls (56%). Participants were generally less willing to use Tap Control to access the voice assistant, with only 44% of them preferring Tap to traditional measures for activating the voice assistant. Only two participants reported they did not like or use the Tap Control.

Conclusions:
The method of tapping hearing aids to control streaming or to answer phone calls has the potential to be an efficient and useful technique for adolescent hearing aid wearers. There were more challenges to using hearing aid tapping for activating the voice assistant. Clinicians who are fitting adolescents with hearing aids could consider providing this method for hearing aid control, especially for streaming and phone calls.