Synchronous remote fine-tuning and follow-up within aural rehabilitation: a randomised controlled trial

Figures & data

Figure 1. Flowchart of the study procedure. ^#HHIE/A: Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly/Adults; ^¤IOI-HA: International Outcome Inventory for Hearing Aids; *APHAB: Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit; ^§BOCF: Baseline Observation Carried Forward.

Table 2. Observed means (OM) and standard deviations (SD) for HHIE/A (n = 93), APHAB (n = 85), and IOI-HA (n = 89) are presented for both groups before intervention (T0) and after intervention (T1).

		T0	T1	Main effect of group	Main effect of time	Interaction effect	T0-T1	T0-T1
		OM (SD)	OM (SD)	p Value	p Value	p Value	ES (95% CI) Within-group	ES (95% CI) Between-group
	HHIE/A
Total	I-group	33.87 (16.8)	20.84 (15.1)	<.001***	.000***	.301	L (-1.42 to −0.21)	M (0.25 to 1.09)
	C-group	40.29 (21.4)	24.17 (16.5)				L (-1.43 to −0.25)
Social	I-group	17.82 (8.5)	11.09 (7.6)	<.001***	.000***	.678	L (-1.44 to −0.22)	M (0.30 to 1.14)
	C-group	19.50 (10.0)	12.13 (8.7)				M (-1.37 to −0.20)
Emotional	I-group	16.04 (9.2)	9.96 (8,4)	<.001***	.000***	.117	M (-1.29 to −0.09)	M (0.14 to 0.96)
	C-group	20.79 (12.4)	11.92 (9.0)				L (-1.41 to −0.23)
APHAB				Mann-Whitney U, p-value
Ease of communication	I-group	58.95 (22.4)	18.18 (16.4)		.000***		L (-2.84 to −1.32)
	C-group	62.86 (20.2)	20.22 (15.0)		.000***		L (-3.21 to −1.60)
Background Noise	I-group	56.43 (9.9)	54.43 (9.5)		.09		S (−0.82 to 0.41)
	C-group	58.84 (10.9)	52.17 (12.9)		.021*		M (-1.18 to 0.07)
Reverberation	I-group	49.64 (8.9)	45.43 (13.8)		.022*		S (−0.98 to 0.26)	S (−0.37 to 0.92)
	C-group	53.84 (11.0)	46.17 (12.1)		.008**		M (-1.29 to −0.04)
Aversiveness	I-group	24.17 (18.3)	45.14 (27.0)		.000***		L (0.27 to 1.55)
	C-group	24.43 (18.4)	40.39 (24.9)		.000***		M (0.10 o 1.36)
IOI-HA				Mann-Whitney U, p-value
Daily use	I-group	4.02 (1.6)	4.66 (0.6)		.001**		M (−0.07 to 1.13)
	C-group	4.20 (1.3)	4.30 (0.6)		.007**		M (−0.07 to 1.12)
Benefit	I-group	4.02 (1.1)	4.60 (0.5)		.001**		M (0.07 to 1.29)
	C-group	3.82 (1.3)	4.49 (0.7)		.006**		M (0.04 to 1.24)
Activity limitation	I-group	3.05 (1.0)	3.91 (0.8)		.000***		L (0.33 to 1.57)
	C-group	2.78 (0.8)	3.82 (0.9)		.000***		L (0.59 to 1.86)
Satisfaction	I-group	4.18 (1.3)	4.82 (0.5)		.003**		M (0.04 to 1.26)
	C-group	4.04 (1.2)	4.80 (0.5)		.000***		L (0.22 to 1.44)
Participation restriction	I-group	4.07 (1.1)	4.66 (0.6)		.002**		M (0.06 to 1.27)
	C-group	3.80 (1.0)	4.62 (0.6)		.000***		L (0.38 to 1.61)
Impact on environment	I-group	3.48 (1.0)	4.32 (0.8)		.000***		L (0.31 to 1.55)
	C-group	3.51 (1.1)	4.38 (0.7)		.000***		L (0.33 to 1.56)
Quality of life	I-group	3.66 (1.1)	4.05 (0.9)		.042*		S (−0.21 to 0.99)
	C-group	3.56 (1.2)	4.29 (0.8)		.002**		M (0.11 to 1.32)	S (−0.14 to 0.70)

Cohen’s pooled within-group and between-group effect sizes (ES) are presented with a 95% confidence interval (CI) for the intervention (I-group) and control group (C-group). The main effect of group, and time, and the interaction effect between time and group are presented with a p-value, as well as the Mann-Whitney U test.

Power size below 0.2 is not presented in the table; S = small power size (0.2 ≤ d < 0.5), M = medium power size (0.5 ≤ d < 0.8), L = large power size (0.8 ≤ d); HHIE/A: Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly/Adults; subscales Social and Emotional. APHAB: Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit; Subscales Ease of communication, Background Noise, Reverberation, and Aversiveness. IOI-HA: International Outcome Inventory for Hearing Aids.

*p ≤ 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001.

Table 1. Demographics of the participants, showing the mean and standard deviations in brackets, or number (n) and % in brackets.

	Intervention group (n = 46)	Control group (n = 49)
Age, 29 to 64 years (n)	13 (28%)	23 (47%)
Age, 65 to 85 years (n)	33 (72%)	26 (53%)
Age, (years, range 29 to 85)	66 (9.5)	62 (11.0)
29 to 64 (years)	54 (8.1)	53 (9.5)
65 to 85 (years)	71 (4.5)	70 (4.0)
Gender, (n)
Male	29 (63%)	35 (71%)
Female	17 (37%)	14 (29%)
Duration of hearing aid use, (years, range 3 to 35)	8.7 (4.6)	8.3 (5.9)
Pure-tone average (^aPTA4, dB HL) right ear	43.97 (16.4)	42.36 (14.8)
Pure-tone average (^aPTA4, dB HL) left ear	45.03 (15.1)	43.05 (14.3)

^aPure-tone average for 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz, decibel hearing level (dB HL).