Using the device-oriented subjective outcome (DOSO) scale to measure outcomes of different hearing aids

Abstract

Objective: The device-oriented subjective outcome (DOSO) is a device-oriented questionnaire, intended to minimise the influence of personality on self-reported measures. The aim of this study was to provide normative data with 2015-era hearing aid technologies. Design: This retrospective study evaluated data from records of three clinical trials. The DOSO was administered for the participants’ own devices as a part of the intake and after using research devices in the field. Study sample: The DOSO data were collected from 132 experienced bilateral hearing aid wearers who participated in the clinical trials. Results: The DOSO data collected with the participants’ own devices were compared to the interim normative data collected between 2004 and 2005. The DOSO subscale scores from the participants’ own devices were significantly higher than those from the interim norms, except Listening Effort subscale. To demonstrate the utility of the new norms, a separate set of DOSO data collected from the same participants after using research hearing aids were contrasted to the new normative data. After accounting for possible placebo effects, the DOSO data with research devices revealed additional self-reported benefit of technological advancements. Conclusions: Norms for the DOSO are recommended for evaluating hearing aids with more recent technologies.

Key Words:

• Hearing aids
• outcome measure
• self-report

Notes

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Dr. Robyn Cox at the University of Memphis for sharing the interim normative data.

Thanks to Sarah Sloan, Sharon Kaare, and Sandy Jobes for their assistance in participation in participant qualification and recruitment. Thanks to Andrea Pociecha for providing information regarding the participants’ own hearing aids. We would also like to thank our research participants for their time and thoughtful participation.

A portion of the results of this project has been presented at the Annual Scientific and Technology Meeting of the American Auditory Society, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA (2 March 2017): “Have technological advancements in hearing aids improved subjective outcomes?”.

Declaration of interest: The authors are employees of Starkey Hearing Technologies. No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material available online

Notes

1. Degrees of freedom have been corrected using Greenhouse-Geisser estimates of sphericity.