Hearing aid Experiences of Adult Hearing aid Owners During and After Fitting: A Systematic Review of Qualitative Studies.
Ilze Oosthuizen, Vinaya Manchaiah, Stefan Launer and 1 others
PMID 36300258WHAT IT FOUND
Hearing aid owners described fitting and use as shaped by counseling, handling, stigma, noise, fit, cost, and support.
Their accounts show what people notice when trying to keep using hearing aids.
Key findings
01Adult hearing aid owners described positive fitting experiences when audiological service delivery and information counseling were adequate, and negative fitting experiences when service delivery was inadequate or counseling was limited.
02The most common device-related problems were handling and continuous care, and listening in background noise or group conversations.
03Stigma related to hearing aids was the most consistently reported non-device psychosocial challenge.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The review included only peer-reviewed studies published in English, so relevant grey literature or non-English accounts were missed. Seven included studies used mixed methods, and the quality tool may be less appropriate for them. 8 of the 25 studies did not include thick descriptions, and only five stated the qualitative research tradition. The review covered fitting and post-fitting experiences, not the stage before help-seeking, so decisions to obtain hearing aids were not synthesized. The findings are qualitative themes, not measured effects of hearing aids, counseling, training, or involving family.
Declared interests
Author IO is a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Pretoria, supported by a grant from Sonova AG. The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these themes as evidence that counseling, training, or involving family makes hearing aid use better. The review synthesized qualitative experiences, not tested interventions, so it cannot show what works.