What Factors May Influence Help Seeking of Israeli Adult Hearing Aid Candidates

Background: Sensorineural hearing loss in adults has been found to be related to reports of decreased communication ability, loneliness, depression and decline in cognitive abilities. Hearing aids have been found to be useful in reducing these effects. Studies have shown that only a small percentage of hearing aid candidates seek help.

Objective: The current study examined the demographic, personal, and audiological factors that may influence Israelis to seek counseling regarding hearing aid candidacy.

Methods: Recruitment of subjects was in accordance with the requirements of the ethics review board of Hadassah University Medical Center. Clinic databases were searched to identify people between the ages of 50 and 80 years who were first tested at the clinic in the past year and were found to have mild to moderately severe bilateral sensorineural hearing loss for whom hearing aid amplification was recommended. 200 were randomly chosen to be phoned for the survey. Of these, 80 agreed to respond to the telephone survey.

After obtaining informed consent, the 10 questions of the survey were asked. The survey included demographic information as well as questions about if and why they sought a hearing aid consultation as was recommended to them by the audiologist who performed the hearing test.

Results: While certain demographic factors may be associated with help seeking, the most significant finding was belief that help was needed. Additionally, it was found that the consulting ENT physician’s advice was taken into consideration.

Conclusion: More research is warranted to determine ways to better counsel adults with hearing loss. It might be useful to use tools to help hearing aid candidates be more aware of their own hearing loss and its ramifications so that they better understand the need to seek further help.