Predicting three-month and 12-month post-fitting real-world hearing-aid outcome using pre-fitting acceptable noise level (ANL)

Abstract

Objective: Determine the extent to which pre-fitting acceptable noise level (ANL), with or without other predictors such as hearing-aid experience, can predict real-world hearing-aid outcomes at three and 12 months post-fitting. Design: ANLs were measured before hearing-aid fitting. Post-fitting outcome was assessed using the international outcome inventory for hearing aids (IOI-HA) and a hearing-aid use questionnaire. Models that predicted outcomes (successful vs. unsuccessful) were built using logistic regression and several machine learning algorithms, and were evaluated using the cross-validation technique. Study sample: A total of 132 adults with hearing impairment. Results: The prediction accuracy of the models ranged from 61% to 68% (IOI-HA) and from 55% to 61% (hearing-aid use questionnaire). The models performed more poorly in predicting 12-month than three-month outcomes. The ANL cutoff between successful and unsuccessful users was higher for experienced (∼18 dB) than first-time hearing-aid users (∼10 dB), indicating that most experienced users will be predicted as successful users regardless of their ANLs. Conclusions: Pre-fitting ANL is more useful in predicting short-term (three months) hearing-aid outcomes for first-time users, as measured by the IOI-HA. The prediction accuracy was lower than the accuracy reported by some previous research that used a cross-sectional design.

Key Words:

• Acceptable noise level
• hearing aid
• outcome
• international outcome inventory for hearing aids (IOI-HA)
• machine learning

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by a research Grant DTCRD100(2)-E-07 from Buddhist Dalin Tzu-Chi General Hospital, Chiayi, Taiwan. The first author was supported by grants R03-DC012551 and R01-DC012769 from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, USA.

Declaration of interest

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