Quality of Life and Satisfaction among Patients Who Use Hearing Aids

BACKGROUND: Hearing loss is a very common condition, especially among the elderly. A large number of people that have disabling hearing loss may benefit from hearing aids.

AIM: The purpose of this study was to measure quality of life and satisfaction among patients who use hearing aids.

METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted, in which 100 patients who came in contact with an audiology center in Athens took part. Glasgow Hearing Aid Benefit Profile (GHABP) and 12-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12) were used. Alongside with the questionnaires, demographic and relevant to their hearing aid information were collected. Student's t-test, Pearson correlation and Linear regression analysis with the sequential process of integration/abstraction to find independent factors associated with the various scales that generated dependency coefficients (b) and their standard errors (SE), were used.

RESULTS: Patient's perception of disability affects use of hearing aid and patients' satisfaction. More specifically patients who used hearing aid more and perceived its benefits showed higher scores in the physical health of SF-12. Age was found to correlate statistically with patients' satisfaction from the hearing aid and decreases as age increases. Also greater subjective perception of disability caused by hearing loss means increased usage of a hearing aid and life satisfaction.

CONCLUSION: Using a hearing aid improves physical aspects of quality of life of patients with hearing loss. The total duration of wearing a hearing aid and the degree of hearing loss play an important role in the use made by the patient.