The impact of health literacy on patient understanding of counseling and education materials.

Low health literacy is reported to have negative consequences on patient understanding of health-related information; however, there is a dearth of research regarding health literacy in an audiology-specific context. This study examines the grade level of language used in verbal and written communication samples during routine hearing aid orientation appointments. Patient counseling sessions were videotaped and transcribed; hearing aid instruction guides used during counseling sessions were also transcribed. The Flesch-Kincaid grade level formula was used to determine the approximate United States grade level equivalent of the counseling sessions, hearing aid instruction guides, and to predict patient health literacy. The results indicate that patient predicted health literacy likely impacts understanding of both one-on-one counseling and hearing aid instruction guides.