Effectiveness of Auditory Training in Experienced Hearing-Aid Users, and an Exploration of Their Health-Related Quality of Life and Coping Strategies.
Mira Van Wilderode, Ellen Vermaete, Tom Francart and 2 others
PMID 37709273WHAT IT FOUND
Experienced hearing-aid users reported that their quality of life depends on speech understanding in noise, not on how loud sounds are.
Twelve weeks of home training produced small improvements in speech-in-noise for the training group, but did not improve quality of life or thinking skills.
Key findings
01Speech understanding in noise, not aided hearing thresholds, correlated with health-related quality of life in experienced hearing-aid users.
02The training group showed larger improvements in speech-in-noise when listening via streaming to hearing aids, but did not improve in the sound field.
03Neither the training nor the control group showed improvements in health-related quality of life or cognitive control measures.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study used a passive control group, which may overestimate the true size of training effects. Participants and test leaders were not blinded to the treatment assignment. The training paradigm may have been insufficiently challenging for experienced hearing-aid users, as some participants were already close to normal-hearing performance levels. The correlation between baseline performance and improvement was adjusted for regression to the mean, resulting in a non-significant association.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest. The work was supported by the Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that auditory training will improve a patient's overall quality of life or thinking skills. The study found no significant improvements in health-related quality of life or cognitive control for either the training or control group.