Hearing Aid Problems in Elderly Populations

Abstract

The use of hearing aid (HA) may improve the hearing performance and ease the perceived negative consequences of hearing difficulties in elderly individuals. The aim of this study was to determine the problems experienced by elderly individuals with HA and to investigate the factors that could increase the use of HA. A total of 122 female and 127 male patients with a mean age of 76.79 ± 6.91 years who were recommended HA were evaluated. The following details were taken from the patients: age, gender, duration of hearing complaint, whether or not they received HA, number of family members, number of hours they used HA in a day, type of device, number of ears with HA, educational status, whether they continued to work, whether they were tested before taking the device, the reasons for not taking HA, and the reasons that reduce their use of HA. A total of 18 patients did not receive HA for the following reasons: 9 considered HA too expensive, 8 thought it would be difficult to use HA, and 1 did not like it because of its appearance. No significant difference was found in the patients’ daily HA use duration, age, sex, number of immediate family members, education level, type of device, test before taking the device, and use of HA in single ear or bilateral ears. There was a significant difference in the daily HA use duration and whether the patients continued to work. We need to help reduce the problems associated with the use of HA to help older individuals have a more active role in society and help them in their health problems.

Factors influencing making a choice and accessing a hearing aid among elders with hearing disability: mixed methods

“…This study showed 25.63% of elderly living with moderate to severe hearing impairment using an HA, which was rather low and similar to other studies (Bainbridge and Ramachandran, 2014; Bulğurcu et al , 2020; Chien and Lin, 2012; Löhler et al , 2019; Mukari and Wan Hashim, 2018; Sawyer et al , 2019; Wells et al , 2020). Three objective influencing factors were found with statistical significant differences including age, type of health insurance and disability registration.…”

“…Finally, the mutual meaning of their relationships would be both a trigger and expected outcomes of deciding to use an HA. Reciprocally, it was suggested that use of HA was helpful to sustain the healthy social connectedness due to an increase of communication ability (Bulğurcu et al , 2020; Gao et al , 2020; Said, 2017).…”

“…It was evidently affirmed that the rising price of HA and the lack of health insurance coverage were the main cause of non-uptake of an HA (Donahue et al , 2010; Meyer and Hickson, 2012; Yong et al , 2019). Mostly those who were in need could not afford an HA, and financial problem was a significant barrier to use an HA (Bulğurcu et al , 2020; Kochkin, 2007; Said, 2017). Furthermore, using an HA was long-term basis, and it needed additional cost for batteries and other fixing maintenance, which might create long-term economic burden if it was not included in health benefit package.…”

“…As global aging was alarmed, a timely HA fitting should be considered to sustain an optimal communication functions of the elders. However, a low prevalence of HA use among hearing impaired elders was challenging (Bainbridge and Ramachandran, 2014; Bulğurcu et al , 2020; Chien and Lin, 2012; Löhler et al , 2019; Mukari and Wan Hashim, 2018; Sawyer et al , 2019; Wells et al , 2020).…”

Age at Fitting Affected Unilateral Versus Bilateral Hearing Aids Choice in Asymmetric Hearing Loss

“…A social–economic role was recently found in a study including 191 elderly people: patients who continued to work also used HAs. 16 In our patients, financial issues were only reported by 6 patients, while the majority reported greater hearing difficulty with 2 devices. Other authors have reported that elderly patients with bilateral hearing loss sometimes choose unilateral HAs because the use of 2 HAs causes greater disturbance.…”