Solheim Jorunn, Gay Caryl, Hickson Louise
a Department of ENT , Lovisenberg Diakonale Hospital , Oslo , Norway and.
b Department of Ear, Nose and Throat, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences , University of Queensland , Brisbane , Australia.
Int J Audiol. 2018 Jan;57(1):31-39. doi: 10.1080/14992027.2017.1380849. Epub 2017 Sep 27.
This study describes older adults' experiences with a new hearing aid (HA) during the first 6 months after fitting.
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.
181 HA recipients (≥60 years) attending a six-month follow-up appointment.
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.
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.
本研究描述了老年人在佩戴新助听器后的头6个月内的使用体验。
在一项纵向设计的研究中，通过为期30分钟的个体结构化访谈，在六个月的随访预约中评估了助听器使用的体验和问题。还研究了助听器体验与人口统计学因素、听力损失程度以及助听器使用的客观测量指标（数据记录）之间的关联。
181名接受助听器的患者（年龄≥60岁）参加了六个月的随访预约。
参与者报告的助听器使用问题平均为1.4个（范围0 - 5，中位数 = 1，众数 = 1），最常见的问题涉及耳模（26.5%）、音质（26.0%）和操作（25.5%）。报告至少一个问题的参与者每天的使用时间较少，但成为非使用者（每天<30分钟）的可能性并不更高。非使用者（15.5%）更有可能报告不需要助听器和操作问题。
大多数老年人无论是否报告有问题都会使用他们的助听器。然而，操作问题和未察觉到的需求可能会干扰一些有听力障碍的成年人使用助听器。此外，报告的问题与助听器使用频率较低有关。因此，随访支持对于解决可能干扰最佳使用的问题很重要。
