Are hearing aid owners able to identify and self-report handling difficulties? A pilot study

Abstract

Objective: Although clinician administered surveys evaluating hearing aid handling skills exist, the development of a self-administered version may reduce clinical load, save consultation time, and facilitate more frequent use than face-to-face consultations allow. However, there is currently no evidence to support whether hearing aid owners can accurately self-report hearing aid handling skills via self-report survey that systematically evaluates the ability to accurately perform the individual aspects of hearing aid handling required for effective hearing aid management. Design: An explorative pilot study using a prospective research design. Study sample: Nineteen adult hearing aid owners, aged between 65 and 93 years. Results: The self-administered survey demonstrated high sensitivity when compared with clinician evaluation of skills, with 93% of participants accurately self-identifying and reporting whether hearing aid handling skill training was required. Conclusions: Hearing aid owners are able to accurately self-report hearing aid handling difficulties when provided with an itemised list of skills.

Key Words:

• Hearing aids
• behavioural measures
• hearing aid satisfaction
• psychosocial
• emotional

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the assistance of the Ear Science Institute Australia with participant recruitment and the participants for devoting their time to this study. The authors would also like to acknowledge the assistance of Liz Rocher, Lize Strachan, Jordan Bishop, and Sandra Nair with data collection and data entry.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no declarations of interest. R. J. Bennett is funded by an Australian Postgraduate Award scholarship through the School of Surgery at The University of Western Australia.

Supplementary material available online