title: Difficulties experienced by hearing-aid candidates and hearing-aid users.
abstract: Responses to an open-ended questionnaire were obtained from 250 hearing-aid candidates who had never worn a hearing aid and from 250 experienced hearing-aid users. The questionnaire stated 'Please make a list of the difficulties which you have as a result of your hearing loss.' The responses were divided into six major categories. The hearing-aid candidates reported more problems than the experienced users in the categories of (a) understanding speech where speechreading would normally be used (92% versus 81%), and (b) understanding speech where speechreading would normally not be used (51% versus 43%). A similar number of respondents in both groups reported problems in the categories of (c) personal difficulties (11%), (d) audiological or medical difficulties (18%), and (e) difficulties associated with environmental sounds (34%). Thirty-five per cent of the hearing-aid users reported (f) difficulties associated with their hearing aids. The most frequently reported specific difficulty in both groups was watching television (47% of the candidates and 37% of the users). Twenty-one per cent in each group reported difficulty conversing on the telephone.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006310:Hearing Aids; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012917:Social Adjustment; D013067:Speech Perception; D013997:Time Factors