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Abstract
Successful hearing aid fitting occurs when the person fitted wears the aid/s on a regular basis and reports benefit when the aid/s is used. A significant number of people fitted with unilateral or bilateral hearing aids for the first time do not continue to use one or both aids in the long term. In this paper, factors consistently found in previous research to be associated with unsuccessful fitting are explored; in particular, the negative attitudes of some clients towards hearing aids, their lack of motivation for seeking help, inability to identify goals for rehabilitation, and problems with the management of the devices. It is argued here that success in hearing aid fitting involves the same dynamics as found with other assistive technologies (e.g., wheelchairs, walking frames), and is dependent on a match between the characteristics of a prospective user, the technology itself, and the environments of use (Scherer, Citation). It is recommended that for clients who identify concerns about hearing aids, or who are unsure about when they would use them, and/or are likely to have problems with aid management, only one aid be fitted in the first instance, if hearing aid fitting is to proceed at all. Rehabilitation approaches to promote successful fitting are discussed in light of results obtained from a survey of clients who experienced both successful and unsuccessful aid fitting.
| Acronyms | ||
| HARQ | = | Hearing attitudes to rehabilitation questionnaire |
| ECHO | = | Expected consequences of hearing aid ownership |
| HHIE | = | Hearing handicap Inventory for the Elderly |
| HTL | = | Hearing threshold levels |
| ACE | = | Active communication education |
| Acronyms | ||
| HARQ | = | Hearing attitudes to rehabilitation questionnaire |
| ECHO | = | Expected consequences of hearing aid ownership |
| HHIE | = | Hearing handicap Inventory for the Elderly |
| HTL | = | Hearing threshold levels |
| ACE | = | Active communication education |
Sumario
La adaptación exitosa de auxiliares auditivos (AA) existe cuando una persona usa su(s) auxiliar(es) regularmente y reporta beneficios al usarlos. Un numero significativo de personas que utilizan auxiliares uni o bilaterales por primera vez, no siguen usándolo(s) a largo plazo. En este trabajo se exploran los factores encontrados consistentemente en investigaciones previas como asociados a fracasos, en particular, las actitudes negativas de algunas personas hacia los auxiliares, su falta de motivación para buscar ayuda, la inhabilidad para identificar los objetivos de la rehabilitación y los problemas para el manejo de esos instrumentos. Se argumenta aquí que el éxito de la adaptación involucra la misma dinámica que la encontrada para otras tecnologías de apoyo (p. ej./ silla de ruedas o andaderas) y que depende de la asociación entre las características del usuario, la tecnología misma y los ambientes para su uso (Sherer, 2002). Se recomienda que para clientes en quienes se identifica preocupación por los AA o que no están seguros sobre cuándo los pueden usar y/o que pueden tener problemas para su manejo, el AA solo se debe adaptar en primera instancia si la adaptación procede de manera absoluta. Los enfoques en la rehabilitación para promover una adaptación exitosa se discuten a la luz de los resultados obtenidos a partir de una encuesta con usuarios que experimentaron éxito o fracaso en la adaptación de sus AA.