Factors Influencing Hearing Aid Adoption in Patients With Hearing Loss in Korea

Abstract

Background The purpose of this study was two-fold: 1) to identify differences in the characteristics of adopters and non-adopters of hearing aids (HAs); and 2) to investigate factors influencing the purchase of HA. Methods This study was conducted among 1,464 subjects (818 male and 646 female) with hearing loss. A national face-to-face survey was performed from August 2019 to October 2020 by otologists or HA experts. The questionnaire consisted of three domains: demographic, audiological, and HA-related domains. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed after adjusting for degree of hearing loss. Results The mean age of the participants was 70.4 ± 12.2 years. Of the 1,464 respondents, 1,190 (81.3%) had already purchased HA. We identified educational level, household income, hearing loss period, place of HA purchase, and government HA assistance program status as factors influencing HA adoption. Among these factors, third party reimbursement was the most important factor affecting HA purchase intent. The main reasons for not adopting HA were feeling that their hearing was adequate, inability to afford HA, and perceptions that HA are uncomfortable. Conclusion Various factors are involved in the purchase of HA, but disabled registration status and third party reimbursement were identified as the most critical factors. In the future, the government should take a more active role in increasing the distribution of HA to patients with hearing loss.

Factors Influencing Hearing Help-Seeking and Hearing Aid Uptake in Adults: A Systematic Review of the Past Decade

“…Four studies reported that people were more likely to take up hearing aids if they had higher socioeconomic status or household income ( Cho et al, 2022 ; Laplante-Lévesque et al, 2012 ; Simpson et al, 2019 ; Tahden et al, 2018 ), although three studies did not report any association. A study by Meyer et al (2014) reported that older adults were more likely to obtain hearing aids if they received a pension.…”

“… Chan et al (2017) reported that the age of hearing loss onset was correlated with time to hearing aid acquisition, with older people acquiring hearing aids more quickly than younger people, and Moschis et al (2015) concluded that the older the person at the time of diagnosis, the more likely they were to purchase a hearing aid. Three studies reported that people were more likely to take up hearing aids if they had a longer hearing loss duration ( Cho et al, 2022 ; Moschis et al, 2015 ; Saunders et al, 2016 ), although two studies reported no association.…”

“…A study by Saunders et al (2016) reported that people were more likely to obtain hearing aids if they self-referred for a hearing test. One study reported that people were more likely to adopt hearing aids if they had their first hearing aid consultation at a hearing aid center instead of a hospital ( Cho et al, 2022 ). A study by Moschis et al (2015) concluded that people were more likely to take up hearing aids if they had a consultation with either an audiologist or a hearing aid dispenser.…”

“…According to four different studies, people were more likely to adopt hearing aids if they applied for subsidized hearing services ( Laplante-Lévesque et al, 2012 ), received government assistance ( Cho et al, 2022 ), senior mobility fund ( Chua Wei De, 2021 ) or had health insurance ( Tran et al, 2021 ). A study by Angara et al (2021) , however, reported no association between health insurance and hearing aid uptake.…”

Predictable Factors of People with Asymmetrical Hearing Loss Wearing a Hearing Aid in the Worse Ear Only

“…For a long time, there have been many studies to find out the factors which are good enough to consistently differentiate successful from unsuccessful hearing aid candidates [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ]. Unfortunately, no factor has been found yet, although certain parameters were statistically significantly related to individual measures of successful hearing aid use [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ]. “Two hearing aids work better than one” has been one of the conventional principles in hearing rehabilitation, even though there may be some exceptions [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 ].…”