title: Utilization of hearing aids issued by the public health service. Hearing aid use in Ribe County, Denmark.
abstract: A prospective survey was carried out to evaluate the efficiency of public audiological rehabilitation. Two hundred and fifty-four of 256 consecutive patients were interviewed six months after hearing aid issue. One hundred and sixty-eight (66%) were full-time users, 225 (88%) wore an aid either all the time or every day. Eight were successful situational users, while 21 (8%) were non-users. Eighty-six of the 233 users (37%) made use of their telecoil. Of a total of 363 aids dispensed, 26 (7%) were out of use. Experienced users differed significantly from first-time users: they had poorer hearing, they used their aids more than first-time users and they were more often treated binaurally.
authors.affiliation: Department of Audiology, St Joseph's Hospital, Esbjerg, Denmark.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gimsing
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000359:Aftercare; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D012048:Correction of Hearing Impairment; D003718:Denmark; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006310:Hearing Aids / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006311:Hearing Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies