Change on the Revised Hearing Handicap Inventory and associated factors: results from a longitudinal cohort study.
Lauren K Dillard, Lois J Matthews, Judy R Dubno
PMID 38949044WHAT IT FOUND
Over a mean of 7.6 years, most people’s self-reported hearing difficulty stayed stable.
Hearing aid users showed more change than non-users. Baseline hearing loss predicted worsening in non-users, but did not predict change in hearing aid users.
Key findings
01Most participants did not experience a substantial change in hearing difficulty over time.
02Hearing aid users experienced considerably more change in hearing difficulty scores than non-users.
03Worse baseline hearing thresholds were associated with substantial increases in hearing difficulty among non-users, but this association was not seen in hearing aid users.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
Participants lived in a relatively small geographic region, and about half had high socioeconomic position, which limits generalizability. There were few hearing aid users who were racial minorities, so differences in change among this subgroup could not be evaluated. The study did not account for the type of hearing aid or the quality of the fitting, which can affect outcomes. Hearing aid users were asked to report how they hear without their aids, which may be difficult if they use them consistently. The definition of 'substantial change' (±6 points) was derived from this data and has not yet been validated as clinically meaningful in other cohorts.
Declared interests
The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the larger change scores in hearing aid users as evidence that hearing aids cause worsening hearing handicap. The users were instructed to report their hearing without aids, which may be difficult or inconsistent, and the study did not evaluate the effect of hearing aid fitting or type on these scores.