The effect of hearing aid use on dichotic listening performance of the hearing-impaired elderly

Abstract

Background and Aim: One of the chronic health problems of the elderly is presbycusis, and one of the most important age-related changes in central auditory processing is dichotic listening deficit. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of using hearing aids on dichotic listening performance of the elderly with hearing loss by dichotic tests. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, randomized dichotic digit test (RDDT) and dichotic auditory verbal memory test (DAVMT) were performed on 20 seniors with hearing loss (8 male, 12 female) aged 65−80 years. They were divided into two groups of test (with hearing aid, n = 10) and control (without hearing aid, n = 10). They were tested before and two months after the use of hearing aid and the results were analyzed using t-test for two independent variables. Results: There was a significant difference in the total DAVMT score in control group before and after the intervention (p < 0.001) and not in test group, but in terms of right and left ear DAVMT and RDDT scores, showed no significant difference in any groups. Moreover, there was no significant difference in the mean DAVMT score of the right ear and the mean RDDT score between groups, but in terms of the total DAVMT score, a significant difference between two groups was reported (p = 0.003). Conclusion: It can be said that the DAVMT has the ability to show adverse effects of hearing loss on recognition function and memory of the elderly.

Keywords

• Randomized dichotic digit test
• dichotic auditory verbal memory test
• hearing aid
• presbycusis