A Comparison of the Perceived Hearing Difficulties of Community and Clinical Samples of Older Adults.
Larry E Humes, Judy R Dubno
PMID 34428100WHAT IT FOUND
Older adults who did not seek clinical assistance reported better communication performance, less problem awareness, and more denial of difficulties than clinic samples, even after age and hearing loss were controlled.
The two clinic samples showed smaller differences.
Key findings
01After controlling for age and better-ear hearing loss, the Community sample reported better communication performance in all settings and less awareness of communication problems than one or both clinical samples.
02The Community sample also had lower PA-denial scores, which the paper states means they more frequently denied communication difficulties and emotional reactions to them.
03When age and hearing loss were controlled, the two clinic samples differed on seven CPHI scales; hearing-aid users reported poorer communication performance, greater problem awareness, more nonverbal strategies, more acceptance of hearing loss, and less displaced responsibility than those who did not acquire hearing aids.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Membership in the clinic groups was inferred from hearing-aid status, not from confirmed audiology recommendations, so the Clinic-No HA group may include people who were never advised to get hearing aids. The Community sample was a volunteer group from two sites, so it may not represent all older adults in the community. Participants were overwhelmingly White and non-Hispanic, so it may not apply to other demographic groups. The study did not include reports from significant others, so it cannot distinguish denial from truly fewer perceived difficulties. Prior hearing-aid use was not consistently asked for all participants, so some Clinic-No HA members may have tried hearing aids and stopped.
Declared interests
The study was supported by NIH grants and facilities support. The supplied text does not report commercial funding, author conflicts of interest, or a sponsor designing the study.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that the community sample has less hearing difficulty or that hearing-aid use causes worse communication performance. The study measured self-reported perceptions in existing groups and did not test whether hearing-aid use caused these differences.