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Abstract
Objective: The aim of the study was, based on the individualisation of hearing aids (HA) and pre-sets for audio devices, to develop a questionnaire to determine the basis for profiling sound preferences and hearing habits to gather additional information usable for HA fitting and adjustment tools for audio-devices. Methods: We developed a questionnaire consisting of 46 items. A postal survey was conducted with N = 622 users with a mean age of 66 years (47.9% aided with HA, 45.7% female). Results: Seven factors were identified by means of Explanatory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses: F1: ‘Annoyance/distraction by background noise’, F2: ‘Importance of sound quality’, F3: ‘Noise Sensitivity’, F4: ‘Avoidance of unpredictable sounds’, F5: ‘Openness towards loud/new sounds’, F6: ‘Preferences for warm sounds’, and F7: ‘Details of environmental sounds/music’. Only the first of these factors was related to the audiogram of the user. No difference with any of the factors could be observed with HA use/non-use. In contrast, gender effects were found with female respondents preferring warm sounds and being more sensitive to noise. Conclusions: The sound preference and hearing habits questionnaire (SP-HHQ) is a usable tool for profiling the users with respect to sound preferences relevant for HA fitting and pre-sets for audio devices.
Acknowledgement
Thanks to Müge Kaya (Oldenburg) for conscientiously preparing the digital datasheets and for Esther Ortgies for checking the text. Parts of the presented data were presented at the 12th EFAS Congress, 27th to 30th May 2015, Istanbul, Turkey
Declaration of interest
The authors report that they have no conflicts of interests. This study was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (reference 01EZ1127A).