Efficacy and Effectiveness of Wireless Binaural Beamforming Technology of Hearing Aids in Improving Speech Perception in Noise: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Objectives: To conduct a systematic review to address the following research questions: Q1. Does wireless binaural beamforming technology perform better than conventional microphone technologies in improving the speech perception in noise abilities of individuals with hearing aids bilaterally? and Q2. Do the subjective rating scores of hearing aid benefits suggest that wireless binaural beamforming technology is better than other microphone technologies? Design: Two independent authors performed a comprehensive search utilizing electronic databases like PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Scopus. Aside from these databases, course transcripts, white papers, evidence, and field study articles from various manufacturer websites were also included. The certainty of the evidence for each outcome was determined using Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) guidelines. Results: Eleven studies were included for the qualitative synthesis. The available data were categorized into three groups (bilateral omnidirectional, bilateral directional, and bilateral asymmetric directional microphone processing) and compared against wireless binaural beamformers. The results of the Sign test revealed that for Q1, the wireless binaural beamformer significantly outperformed the bilateral omnidirectional microphone processing. However, no significant differences were observed when compared with other groups. Results for Q2 showed no significant improvement in wireless binaural beamformers compared to other groups. Conclusion: The superior performance of the wireless binaural beamformers over conventional microphone technologies was demonstrated by the speech perception in noise tasks but not by the self-reported subjective ratings. Nevertheless, the evidence for both speech perception noise and subjective ratings was weak.