The quality of life in patients undergoing acoustic rehabilitation: a pilot study

Abstract

Hearing loss can cause both auditory and extra-auditory problems in adult patients, worsening their quality of life on both emotional and social level. The following study shows the acoustic rehabilitation effectiveness in improving the quality of life of hypoacusis patients. The continuous use of hearing aids and a specific adaptation suggested by the specialist lead to an improvement in mental health component summary score (MCS-12) right after a month. This improvement is felt and confirmed by the patients themselves, through the questionnaire SF-12. On the other hand there is no improvement in physical component summary score (PCS-12). Hearing aids are efficacious in determining improvements in mental health in the short term in patients with hearing loss.

Keywords

• Hearing loss
• quality of life
• hearing aids
• acoustic rehabilitation
• SF-12