Older adults' experiences and issues with hearing aids in the first six months after hearing aid fitting.

OBJECTIVES

This study describes older adults' experiences with a new hearing aid (HA) during the first 6 months after fitting.

DESIGN

In a longitudinally designed study, experiences and issues with HA use were assessed at a six-month follow-up appointment in individual structured interviews lasting 30 min. Associations between HA experiences and demographic factors, degree of hearing loss, and an objective measure of HA use (datalogging) were also examined.

STUDY SAMPLE

181 HA recipients (≥60 years) attending a six-month follow-up appointment.

RESULTS

Participants reported an average of 1.4 issues (range 0-5, median = 1, mode = 1) with HA use, the most common pertaining to the earmold (26.5%), sound quality (26.0%) and handling (25.5%). Participants who reported at least one issue had fewer hours of use per day, but were not more likely to be non-users (<30 min/day). Non-users (15.5%) were more likely to report no need for a HA and handling issues.

CONCLUSIONS

Most older adults use their HAs regardless of reported issues. However, handling issues and no perceived need may interfere with HA usage among some adults with hearing impairment. Moreover, reported issues were associated with less frequent HA use. Follow-up support is thus important to address issues that may interfere with optimal use.