Differences Between Older Adults Who Do and Do Not Try Hearing Aids and Between Those Who Keep and Return the Devices.
Larry E Humes
PMID 34057370WHAT IT FOUND
Hearing aid non-adoption was not predicted by age, income, or cognition.
It was predicted by milder hearing loss and lower expectations of benefit. Those who tried aids and returned them showed no pre-fitting differences from those who kept them, only lower post-fitting satisfaction.
Key findings
01Adherents and non-adherents did not differ significantly in age, gender, education, income, duration of hearing loss, or cognitive and personality measures.
02Non-adherents had significantly milder hearing loss and lower expectations for hearing aid benefits compared to adherents.
03Participants who returned their hearing aids after a trial did not differ from those who kept them on any pre-fitting measure, including personality, cognition, or expectations.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample was a convenience sample of volunteers, which may not represent typical clinic patients. Of the eligible non-adherents, only 36 agreed to participate in the comparison group, and 34 had complete data for the relevant analyses. The group of participants who returned hearing aids was very small (21 total, with only 15 completing post-fitting measures), limiting the power to detect differences. Hearing loss severity was a confounding factor; non-adherents had milder loss, which statistically accounted for some of the differences in self-report measures.
Declared interests
The author declared no potential conflicts of interest. The work was supported by a research grant from the National Institute on Aging.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that patients who return hearing aids were identifiable before the trial. The study found no pre-fitting differences between those who kept devices and those who returned them; the distinction only became clear after the trial period through reported dissatisfaction.