Dichotic Hearing in Elderly Hearing Aid Users Who Choose to Use a Single-Ear Device

Abstract

Introduction Elderly individuals with bilateral hearing loss often do not use hearing aids in both ears. Because of this, dichotic tests to assess hearing in this group may help identify peculiar degenerative processes of aging and hearing aid selection. Objective To evaluate dichotic hearing for a group of elderly hearing aid users who did not adapt to using binaural devices and to verify the correlation between ear dominance and the side chosen to use the device. Methods A cross-sectional descriptive study involving 30 subjects from 60 to 81 years old, of both genders, with an indication for bilateral hearing aids for over 6 months, but using only a single device. Medical history, pure tone audiometry, and dichotic listening tests were all completed. Results All subjects (100%) of the sample failed the dichotic digit test; 94% of the sample preferred to use the device in one ear because bilateral use bothered them and affected speech understanding. In 6%, the concern was aesthetics. In the dichotic digit test, there was significant predominance of the right ear over the left, and there was a significant correlation between the dominant side with the ear chosen by the participant for use of the hearing aid. Conclusion In elderly subjects with bilateral hearing loss who have chosen to use only one hearing aid, there is dominance of the right ear over the left in dichotic listening tasks. There is a correlation between the dominant ear and the ear chosen for hearing aid fitting.

Description of tinnitus and its relation to discomfort level in a group of elderly hearing aid wearers

“…Because of the complaints and audiological results, all the subjects have been wearing a hearing aid for more than six months. The use of hearing aids has been reported as having a major role in the treatment of tinnitus 10,11,16 , but in this sample there was no remission of symptoms.…”

“…The use of hearing aids, in addition to minimizing the effects of hearing loss, contributes to decreased tinnitus perception 5,10,11 . However, there are patients that continue to complain about the presence of symptoms even after adapting to their hearing aid.…”

Age at Fitting Affected Unilateral Versus Bilateral Hearing Aids Choice in Asymmetric Hearing Loss

“…Other authors have reported that elderly patients with bilateral hearing loss sometimes choose unilateral HAs because the use of 2 HAs causes greater disturbance. 7 Elderly patients can have central auditory processing disorders due to the aging process of the peripheral and central auditory pathways. This process could result in decreased auditory information processing, leading to difficulties in verbal and non-verbal information processing.…”

“… 6 This has been attributed to different causes: economic, aesthetical, and subjective discomfort related to the phenomenon of binaural interference. 7 …”

Hearing aids: indications, technology, adaptation, and quality control

“…30 older users of hearing aids (60–81 years) who used only 1 hearing aid, mostly on the right side, could not fulfill the dichotic test items at 100%. 94% only used one hearing aid because 2 devices were perceived as too loud and disturbing, 6% had esthetical reasons [ 29 ]. However, hearing aids help affected people also to cope with tasks of their daily life which was shown by an investigation from Brazil showed in 17 first hearing aid users.…”