Time of Day and Hearing Aid Adoption.
Gurjit Singh, Stefan Launer
PMID 29708064WHAT IT FOUND
Patients with audiology appointments at noon or 4 p.m. were less likely to adopt hearing aids.
Those who did adopt were less likely to return them. This is an observational link, not proof that changing appointment time changes behavior.
Key findings
01In 24,842 first-time adult audiology patients, hearing aid adoption was lower at noon and 4 p.m. than at 9 to 11 a.m. and 1 to 3 p.m.
02Among patients who adopted hearing aids, return rates were lower at noon and 4 p.m. than expected at other appointment times.
03Hearing aid adoption rates were similar from Monday to Friday.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Patients were not randomly assigned to appointment times, so unmeasured differences between people who choose noon or 4 p.m. and those who choose other times may explain the result. The dataset had few measures of hunger, motivation, self-perceived hearing handicap, personality, or clinician behavior, so the study cannot identify why the pattern occurred. Actual appointment length and wait times were not measured, so differences in clinician time or patient waiting may have influenced decisions. All records came from one private chain of Canadian audiology clinics, so the pattern may not apply to other settings or health systems. The study did not test changing appointment time as an intervention, so it cannot tell clinicians whether scheduling changes would help.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that moving appointments away from noon or 4 p.m. will increase hearing aid adoption. The study compared existing appointment times without random assignment, so it cannot prove cause.