Hearing Aid Outcomes: Effects of Gender and Experience on Patients' Use and Satisfaction

Abstract

Gender and hearing aid experience did not influence these patients' responses on the IOI-HA, and all respondents were satisfied with their hearing aids and the practice that dispensed them. No major differences were found between these patients' IOI-HA results and normative data suggesting that both sets of respondents were satisfied with their hearing aids. However, limited statistical comparisons for the satisfaction and quality of life items revealed significant differences in favor of these participants' scores over those in the normative study. This suggested that the advanced hearing aid technology used here had a positive effect on patients' ratings and that the IOI-HA norms should be updated periodically to reflect changes in technology.

Satisfação com Aparelhos de Amplificação Sonora Individual entre usuários de serviços de saúde auditiva

“…We emphasize this topic to demonstrate that the literature does not record studies that assess simultaneously both the satisfaction with the service and with the device, and service evaluations is scarce (13) . Research that used other instruments to evaluate user satisfaction with their hearing aid (9,(15)(16)(17) , demonstrated higher levels relative to those in the present study. Within the view of quality control in treatment by health professionals, the user satisfaction index is pointed as one of the factors that must be analyzed.…”

“…In this instrument, users of Unified Health System also said they were satisfied with the service, and the best scores of the questionnaire were related to professional competence, hearing evaluation and personalized attention (13) . Patients who are satisfied with their hearing aids also feel grateful to the professionals that offered it to them (17) . The observed correlation between the indicator of service evaluation and the indicator satisfaction with the hearing aid was positive and significant, however, it explained only a portion of the results, since the correlation was weak.…”

“…It is important to evaluate the effects provided by the use of hearing aids and by the services, with the goal of improving care practice in Audiology (18) . In one Brazilian (9) and one American (17) study, that utilized the IOI-HA, the majority of users made effective use of hearing aids and declared themselves satisfied with the device. In another study (15) , which used the questionnaire Satisfaction with Amplification in Daily Life (SADL), users registered high scores on all subscales of the instrument.…”

Effects of a Dual Sensory Loss Protocol on Hearing Aid Outcomes

“…Intervention Williams et al 2009), the subgroup effect must be caused by the intervention itself. However, it is not clear why men responded well to the DSL protocol, whereas women did not.…”

Adults with mild hearing impairment: Measuring real-world hearing performance

“…Responses are scored 1 (poorest outcome) to 5 (best outcome), with a maximum total score of 35. The IOI-HA was included in this study to allow comparison of the EMA data to an outcome measure commonly used with adults fitted with HAs (e.g., Hickson, Clutterbuck, & Khan, 2010;Williams, Johnson, & Danhauer, 2009). While IOI-HA would normally be administered immediately following, or during, a HA trial, a one-week delay in administration was deemed to be acceptable and result in a low risk of less reliable data.…”