A comparison of Tactaid II plus and Tactaid 7 use by adults with a profound hearing impairment

Objective: To evaluate and compare use of the Tactaid II+ and the Tactaid 7 , in terms of speech perception, by adults with a hearing impairment. Design: Eight adults used one device daily for approximately 10 wk and atte nded seven training sessions. Performance was measured with tests of phonet ic contrast perception, closed-set vowel and consonant identification, word and phoneme recognition in monosyllabic word lists, word recognition in se ntences and speechtracking rate. A questionnaire was also administered. The protocol was repeated with the alternative device. Results: With each device, the group discriminated most phonetic contrasts at better-than-chance levels and demonstrated somewhat enhanced visual or a uditory-visual perception when measured in terms of vowel identification, m onosyllabic word recognition and speechtracking rate. An increase in speech tracking rate was also demonstrated for some individuals. Subjects generall y reported little subjective improvement in speech perception and productio n, but were satisfied with the physical attributes of each device. Five of six subjects preferred the Tactaid 7. Conclusions: The Tactaid II+ and the Tactaid 7 provided suprasegmental and segmental information, enabling the group to discriminate phonetic contrast s and improve their perception of some speech materials. No consistent adva ntage was found for either device, thought most subjects preferred the Tact aid 7. Alternatives likely to provide a greater benefit to communication sh ould be considered before a Tactaid fitting.