This project evaluated the benefits of directional microphones in hearing devices for hearing impaired children under the age of 6 years, in their real-life listening situations. To conduct the study:

• 11 normal hearing children aged between 11 months and 6 years; and
• 16 hearing impaired children aged between 11 months and 6 years were video-recorded in everyday life to determine the proportion of time children turned to a primary talker in different listening situations (the situation in which a directional microphone is optimal).

Directional effects were quantified according to the Speech Transmission Index, a measure of the intelligibility of speech. The findings of the study suggest that directional microphones are not detrimental in hearing devices for hearing impaired children under the age of 6 years. Indeed, the outcomes of this study indicate that directional microphones have much potential for benefits for infants and young children in real life.