Use of self-assessment inventories in hearing-aid provision: German versions of ECHO and SADL

Abstract

Objective: This study presents German versions of the ECHO (expected consequences of hearing aid ownership) and SADL (satisfaction with amplification in daily life) self-assessment inventories (). Study sample: The questionnaires were administered to a group of 290 hearing-aid candidates (ECHO) and 462 experienced hearing-aid users (SADL) recruited at different audiological centres in Germany. Design: The psychometric properties of the German versions and the original questionnaires were similar as confirmed by factor analysis and internal consistency analysis. Results: When comparing outcomes for the ECHO and SADL inventories from the two study groups it was found that satisfaction outperformed expectations. In addition, the relationships of the questionnaire subscales with personality traits as measured with the Big Five inventory were examined. Certain weak though statistically significant correlations were found revealing that personality in hearing-impaired persons does not greatly affect ECHO and SADL outcomes. In contrast, ECHO subscale scores were clearly associated with the motivation to use amplification and might thus help to detect non-adherents. Conclusion: These findings, along with the fact that pre-fitting expectations can be directly compared to post-fitting satisfaction, makes the application of the ECHO and SADL inventories highly valuable in rehabilitative audiology.

Key Words::

• Hearing aid use
• self-assessment inventory
• satisfaction
• expectation
• personality

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Steffen Kreikemeier, Sabine Margolf-Hackl, Michael Müller, and Manfred Schubert (University of Giessen), Müge Kaya and Tobias Fleuren (Hearing Centre Oldenburg), Dr. Dirk Beutner and Dr. Alexander Volk (Universty of Cologne), Koettgen Hoerakustik and Eleanor Lazell (retranslation) for supporting the study. Special thanks to Dr. Robyn M. Cox for revising the retranslation. We acknowledge the helpful comments of Dr. David Baguley and two anonymous reviewers on an earlier version of the manuscript. This study was supported by grants of the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF project ‘Modellbasierte Hörsysteme’ (01EZ0741).

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.