Short-term hearing aid benefit in a large group.

Short-term benefit in a very large group (N = 4,584) following hearing aid treatment was estimated using a revised version of the Self-Assessment of Communication (SAC-Hx). A total of 4,584 veterans with adult-onset hearing loss and mean audiometric findings consistent with a mild to severe, sloping, symmetrical, sensorineural hearing impairment were fitted with hearing aids. Responses to the SAC-Hx were gathered prior to and then 6 weeks following hearing aid fitting. Benefit was defined as the difference between the baseline and the posttreatment SAC-Hx scores. Hearing aid treatment resulted in robust and statistically significant benefit in each category of self-perceived communication consequences. Prior experience influenced benefit: New hearing aid users demonstrated the greatest magnitude of benefit, but even previously satisfied and dissatisfied users obtained significant benefit after new hearing aid fitting. Duration of experience did not have a remarkable effect on the magnitude of benefit: All groups with various durations of experience obtained comparable benefit. Severity of the baseline scores paralleled degree of hearing impairment when impairment was defined using a better ear pure tone average at 1,000, 2,000, 3,000, and 4,000 Hz. Also, severity of perceived communication consequences paralleled poorer monosyllabic word recognition. Hearing aid treatment provided a functional, robust, and statistically significant benefit to individuals in all categories of hearing impairment (normal, mild, moderate, severe, and profound). This report demonstrates the feasibility of the SAC-Hx as a tool to efficiently assess outcome domains in hearing aid fitting.

Norms for the international outcome inventory for hearing aids.

The International Outcome Inventory for Hearing Aids (IOI-HA) is a seven-item survey that was developed for use in research settings to facilitate comparison of data across diverse investigations. The inventory also has potential applications in clinical evaluation of hearing aid fitting outcomes. This article reports the development of norms for the inventory that are suitable for use with group data in research applications, and individual data in a clinical setting. The normative group was defined as adults fitted bilaterally with analog, single-channel, single-memory, compression processing, in-the-ear hearing aids. There were 154 subjects. Associations between outcomes and demographic variables (e.g., gender, hearing loss, etc.) were explored, and several relationships were seen. Based on these data, two sets of norms were derived. The appropriate set will depend on the individual's reported subjective hearing problems without amplification.