Abstract
Objective: To report a robust measure of the proportion of adults who do not use their hearing aids.
Design: Data on hearing aid use was extracted from national household survey data, from 2004 to 2018 in Wales, UK.
Study sample: A representative sample of 10,000 to 16,000 adults per year.
Results: Self-reported hearing difficulty increased smoothly from 14 to 16% during the 12 years when survey administration remained unchanged. The proportion reporting that they had tried a hearing aid increased from 5 to 7% and stabilised at this level since 2011. The proportion who reported using their hearing aid most of the time increased from 47% to 52% during the 15 year period. The proportion who did not use their hearing aids at all decreased from 21% to 18% over the same period.
Conclusions: In this extensively-surveyed population, approximately 20% of adults currently do not use their hearing aids at all, 30% use them some of the time and the remaining 50% most of the time. Hearing aids are valued by many, as judged by use, but there is substantial room for improvement. Inclusion of questions on use within a large-scale, regular national survey enables collection of demonstrably reliable data.
Design: Data on hearing aid use was extracted from national household survey data, from 2004 to 2018 in Wales, UK.
Study sample: A representative sample of 10,000 to 16,000 adults per year.
Results: Self-reported hearing difficulty increased smoothly from 14 to 16% during the 12 years when survey administration remained unchanged. The proportion reporting that they had tried a hearing aid increased from 5 to 7% and stabilised at this level since 2011. The proportion who reported using their hearing aid most of the time increased from 47% to 52% during the 15 year period. The proportion who did not use their hearing aids at all decreased from 21% to 18% over the same period.
Conclusions: In this extensively-surveyed population, approximately 20% of adults currently do not use their hearing aids at all, 30% use them some of the time and the remaining 50% most of the time. Hearing aids are valued by many, as judged by use, but there is substantial room for improvement. Inclusion of questions on use within a large-scale, regular national survey enables collection of demonstrably reliable data.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | International Journal of Audiology |
| Publication status | Accepted/In press - 13 May 2020 |
Keywords
- hearing aids
- use
- non-use
- difficulty
- Survey
Embargoed Document
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Manchester Centre for Audiology and Deafness (ManCAD)
Munro, K., Millman, R., Lamb, W., Dawes, P., Plack, C., Stone, M., Kluk-De Kort, K., Moore, D., Morton, C., Prendergast, G., Couth, S., Schlittenlacher, J., Chilton, H., Visram, A., Dillon, H., Guest, H., Heinrich, A., Jackson, I., Littlejohn, J., Jones, L., Lough, M., Morgan, R., Perugia, E., Roughley, A., Whiston, H., Wright, C., Saunders, G., Kelly, C., Cross, H., Loughran, M. & Hoseinabadi, R.
Project: Research