A comparison of two measures of hearing aid satisfaction in a group of elderly hearing aid wearers.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to compare the results of two measures of hearing aid satisfaction, an indirect measure (Satisfaction with Amplification in Daily Living, SADL; Cox & Alexander, 1999) and a direct measure (an expanded version of the MarkeTrak-IV survey; Kochkin, 1996), in a group of elderly hearing aid wearers.


METHODS
A total of 43 elderly hearing aid wearers completed both satisfaction measures (order counterbalanced across wearers) after 1 mo of wearing 2-channel wide dynamic range compression (WDRC) in-the-canal (ITC) hearing aids. A correlational research design was employed.


RESULTS
The elderly hearing aid wearers in this study yielded results on each measure of hearing aid satisfaction that were generally consistent with those found previously in larger groups of similar samples. The correlation between each measure of satisfaction (r = 0.75) was positive, moderately strong, and significant (p < 0.01) for the global scores of the SADL and MarkeTrak-IV scales.


CONCLUSIONS
Although different approaches to the measurement of satisfaction were followed in the development of the SADL (indirect approach) and the MarkeTrak-IV (direct measurement) scales, similar results were obtained with each scale. The 15-item SADL instrument, however, is much shorter than the MarkeTrak-IV instrument and, as a result, is more efficient to administer clinically.
Humes
Larry E
LE
Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Indiana Univesity, Bloomington 47405-7002, USA. humes@indiana.edu
Wilson
Dana L
DL
Humes
Lauren
L
Barlow
Nancy N
NN
Garner
Carolyn B
CB
Amos
Nathan
N
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000295:instrumentation; D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D004867:Equipment Design; D006310:Hearing Aids; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires