What Keeps Older Adults With Hearing Impairment From Adopting Hearing Aids?

Abstract

The aim of this study was to compare elderly individuals who are hearing impaired but inexperienced in using hearing aids (hearing aid non-users; HA-NU) with their aided counterparts (hearing aid users; HA-U) across various auditory and non-auditory measures in order to identify differences that might be associated with the low hearing aid uptake rate. We have drawn data of 72 HA-NU and 139 HA-U with a mild-to-moderate hearing loss, and matched these two groups on the degree of hearing impairment, age, and sex. First, HA-NU and HA-U were compared across 65 auditory, cognitive, health-specific, and socioeconomic test measures as well as measures assessing technology commitment. Second, a logistic regression approach was performed to identify relevant predictors for using hearing aids. Finally, we conducted a sensitivity analysis for the matching approach. Group comparisons indicated that HA-NU perceive their hearing problem as less severe than their aided counterparts. Furthermore, HA-NU showed worse technology commitment and lower socioeconomic status than HA-U. The logistic regression revealed self-reported hearing performance, technology commitment, and the socioeconomic and health status as the most important predictors for using hearing aids.