Do Hearing Aids Address Real-World Hearing Difficulties for Adults With Mild Hearing Impairment? Results From a Pilot Study Using Ecological Momentary Assessment

Abstract

Current approaches to the measurement of hearing aid benefit typically use clinical or laboratory-based speech perception tests or retrospective self-report surveys. However, when assessing hearing aid outcomes in adults with mild hearing impairment, the traditional outcome measures may not be sufficiently sensitive. An alternative to these techniques are approaches that capture data about real-world experiences as they are experienced, such as ecological momentary assessment. This single-subject experimental design pilot study investigated the feasibility of using ecological momentary assessment in assessing whether hearing aids make a difference to the real-world listening experiences of adults with mild hearing impairment. Ten participants with an average age of 70 years and no previous amplification experience answered survey questions on their listening experiences over a 4-week period (1 week without hearing aids, 2 weeks with hearing aids, and 1 week without hearing aids). A total of 860 surveys were collected. Participants reported significantly better speech understanding and less listening effort during the 2-week trial with hearing aids compared to baseline conditions. In addition, they reported that they were significantly less hampered by their hearing difficulties and had greater enjoyment of listening events with wearing hearing aids. Individual variation in hearing aid benefit was evident. This pilot study showed that ecological momentary assessment has potential to quantify self-reported aided benefit for individuals with mild hearing impairment fitted with hearing aids. This research also highlighted that a real-world approach is needed to explore individualized outcomes and provide different insights to standardized questionnaires.

Applying the COM-B Model to Assess the Usability of Smartphone-Connected Listening Devices in Adults with Hearing Loss

“…In relation, it is likely that participants had varied listening experiences, which could have influenced the outcomes of the study. Although our aim was to understand the everyday experiences of people living with hearing loss toward smartphone-connected listening devices, information regarding the listening situations encountered by participants could be measured in future studies, such as via hearing diaries, data logging, or ecological momentary assessment (for recent application, see Timmer et al, 2018). Logistical reasons also necessitated the use of a convenience sampling strategy, which is potentially less rigorous than other qualitative sampling techniques.…”

Daily-Life Fatigue in Mild to Moderate Hearing Impairment: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study

“…Recent evidence supports the application of EMA within hearing research and has demonstrated the success with which EMA methods and technologies are adopted by individuals with HI (e.g., Galvez et al 2012 ; Henry et al 2012 ; Timmer et al 2017 ). EMA has been used to successfully measure and classify auditory context and to assess HA outcomes in real-world settings (e.g., Hasan et al 2014 ; Wu et al 2015 ; Smeds et al 2018 ; Timmer et al 2018 ; Jensen et al 2019 ).…”

Test-Retest Reliability of Ecological Momentary Assessment in Audiology Research

“…Further, it is not uncommon for EMA studies to pool data from both types of surveys to answer research questions. 8,9,24 Comparisons: Test versus Retest…”

“…Therefore, the use of EMA in audiology research has grown in the past decades. EMA has been implemented using paper-and-pencil journals, [2][3][4][5] daily diaries, 6 portable computers, 7 and smartphones 8,9 to assess hearing difficulty or hearing aid outcomes in the real world.…”