Communication strategies, personal adjustments, and need for recovery in employees with hearing loss who receive a communication group-training

Figures & data

Table 1. Characteristics and content of the communication group-training at the two participating audiological centres (AC1 and AC2).

	AC1	AC2	Provided by
Duration course	10,5 h	22 h	–
Working participants only	No	Yes	–
Speech reading training	45%	30%	Speech therapist
Instruction about hearing loss	12%	20%	Audiologist
Instruction about technical devices	10%	10%	Audiologist
Counselling on personal situations	33%	20%	Social worker
Counselling on work situations	0%	20%	Social worker

AC: Audiological Centre.

Table 2. Baseline characteristics of the included employees at two audiological centres (AC1 and AC2), including demographic, hearing-related, and work-related characteristics.

	Age	Gender	BHI in dB HL	Hearing loss since	Hearing aids	Educational level	Profession	Working hours per week	Auditory work demands	Listening effort
AC1
1	58	female	37.2	6–10 years	Yes	University	Team leader	32	15	13
2	58	male	56.6	6–10 years	Yes	General secondary	Entrepreneur	60	18	17
3	52	male	55.0	2–5 years	Yes	General secondary	Draftsman	32	9	10
4	64	female	44.1	>10 years	Yes	Intermediate vocational	Harvest worker	20	18	15
AC2
5	50	female	59.4	2–5 years	Yes	Higher vocational	HR employee	36	15	9
6	59	female	56.4	>10 years	Yes	Intermediate vocational	Doctor’s assistant	28	20	14
7	58	male	38.6	0–1 year	No	General intermediate	Mason	40	14	5
8	49	female	45.0	>10 years	Yes	General secondary	Admin. Assisstant	32	10	8
9	56	female	45.3	6–10 years	Yes	University	Nurse	40	19	10

BHI: Binaural Hearing Impairment and is calculated by averaging the pure tone thresholds at 1000, 2000 and 4000 Hz favouring the better ear.

Figure 1. Scatterplot of the communication strategies (CS) scores before (T₀) and directly after (T₁) a communication group-training at AC1 (n = 4) and AC2 (n = 5). Dots above the diagonal represent improvement in the communication strategies.

Figure 2. Scatterplot of the personal adjustments (PA) score at before (T₀) and directly after (T₁) the communication training at AC1 (n = 4) and AC2 (n = 5). Dots above the diagonal represent improvement in personal adjustments.

Table 3. Communication strategies, personal adjustments, and need for recovery before (T₀) and after (T₁) participation of employees participating in a communication group-training at two audiological centres. Questionnaire scores before and after the training are provided as well as the questionnaire change scores.

	Communication strategies			Personal adjustments			Need for recovery
	T0	T1	Change score	T0	T1	Change score	T0	T1	Change score
AC1
1	68	75	7^a	46	58	12^a	44	50	6
2	70	64	−6	40	35	−5	33	33	0
3	60	62	2^a	51	50	−1	50	39	−11^a
4	50	62	12^a	29	32	3^a	39	67	28
AC2
5	52	66	14^a	52	56	4^a	72	61	−11^a
6	45	61	16^a	23	47	24^a	61	39	−22^a
7	38	63	25^a	39	38	−1	44	78	34
8	55	56	1^a	37	54	17^a	44	33	−11^a
9	58	76	18^a	46	59	13^a	39	39	0

^aCompared to the score at T_0, a more favourable score was obtained at T₁.