Hearing aids in older adults: audibility, outcomes, status, characteristics, and skills

Abstract

The current study explored hearing aid outcomes for a group of participants who were dispenser fit rather than protocol fit. Participants could have been fit and followed by any hearing aid practitioner increasing the likelihood that verification and validation measures were not used to confirm optimal amplification. Outcome measures in the current study examined audibility, word recognition performance in noise, self-reported outcomes, hearing aid visual-listening check status, participant report of hearing aid characteristics, and a modified hearing aid skills assessment. For inclusion in the study, participants were required to be between 60-89 years of age, have normal outer ear and middle ear function, a bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, normal cognition and vocabulary, as well as be fit bilaterally with hearing aids that were functioning. Thirty participants were recruited from the surrounding community Results from this study determined that with hearing aids, participants had a significant improvement of audibility for speech at both soft and average presentation levels, as indicated by the Speech Intelligibility Index. Also, there was a significant improvement in word recognition performance in noise at both soft and average conversational levels with the use of amplification, as measured by the QuickSIN. In addition, a significant relationship between audibility and word recognition performance in noise was found. Of particular note, there were no significant relationships between audibility and self-reported outcomes as measured by the Glasgow Hearing Aid Benefit Profile. When compared to word recognition performance in noise, only the satisfaction scale on the Glasgow Hearing Aid Benefit Profile was significantly related. Other significant relationships between outcome measures including hearing aid status, hearing aid characteristics questionnaire, and ability to manipulate one's hearing aids were examined.