Prediction of successful hearing aid treatment in first-time and experienced hearing aid users: Using the International Outcome Inventory for Hearing Aids

Abstract

Objective: Primarily to understand whether clinically relevant factors affect the International Outcome Inventory (IOI-HA) scores and to examine if IOI-HA scores improve when renewing the hearing aids (HA) for experienced users. Secondly, to estimate the overall HA effectiveness using the IOI-HA. Design: A prospective observational study. Study sample: In total, 1961 patients with hearing loss were included. All patients underwent a hearing examination, were fitted with HAs, and answered the IOI-HA. Factor analysis of IOI-HA separated the items into a Factor 1 (use of HA, perceived benefits, satisfaction, and quality of life) and Factor 2 (residual activity limitation, residual participation restriction and impact on others) score. Results: Degree of hearing loss, word recognition score, motivation, HA usage time, tinnitus, asymmetry, and sex were significantly associated with total IOI-HA, Factor 1, or Factor 2 scores. The seven IOI-HA items increased on average by 0.4 (p < 0.001) when renewing HAs. The total median IOI-HA score at follow-up was 29 (7) for experienced (n ¼ 460) and first-time users (n ¼ 1189), respectively. Conclusions: Degree of hearing loss, word recognition score, motivation, tinnitus, asymmetry, and sex may be used to identify patients who require special attention to become successful HA users.

DSLchild-Algorithm-Based Hearing Aid Fitting Can Improve Speech Comprehension in Mildly Distressed Patients with Chronic Tinnitus and Mild-to-Moderate Hearing Loss

“…In line with previous studies investigating psychological influences on successful HA use [ 68 , 69 ], psychological distress appears to potentially moderate HAs’ success in improving SC in individuals with moderate HL. The observed correlations may reflect the shared central processes between psychological distress and audiological performance [ 70 ]; however, research to this regard remains in its infancy.…”

A precision medicine tool to understand who responds best to hearing aids in late‐life depression

“…The one discrepant result among the factors making up the combined moderator was that a lower degree of HL (as measured by PTA) was associated with a better depressive symptom response to hearing aids in these data. For example, most previous analyses have observed a positive association between HL severity and hearing aid effectiveness on hearing‐related outcomes 33 . However, PTA had the lowest weight in our model, suggesting that it was the least influential variable on predicting depressive symptom response to hearing aids.…”

“…Existing literature has identified specific pre‐treatment factors that are associated with improved satisfaction with hearing aid treatment among the general population. For example, more severe HL, 33 better word recognition scores, 33 higher perceived social support, 34 and the absence of tinnitus 35 have been associated with improved perceived satisfaction and effectiveness of hearing aids. However, to our knowledge this is the first study to evaluate individual factors related to improved depressive symptom response to hearing aids.…”

Auditory Tests for Characterizing Hearing Deficits in Listeners With Various Hearing Abilities: The BEAR Test Battery

“…Participants with a pure tone threshold ≥ 75 dB HL at 2 kHz were excluded from the study as it was unlikely that it would be feasible to perform all the tests due to audibility issues. The participants were recruited from the BEAR database (Houmoller et al, 2021) at Odense University Hospital (OUH), from the patient database at Bispebjerg Hospital (BBH), and from the database at the Hearing Systems Section at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). The study was approved by the Science-Ethics Committee for the Capital Region of Denmark, H-16036391.…”