Stratification of American hearing aid users by age and audiometric characteristics: a method for representative sampling.
OBJECTIVE
Stratified sampling plans can increase the accuracy and facilitate the interpretation of a dataset characterizing a large population. However, such sampling plans have found minimal use in hearing aid (HA) research, in part because of a paucity of quantitative data on the characteristics of HA users. The goal of this study was to devise a quantitatively derived stratified sampling plan for HA research, so that such studies will be more representative and generalizable, and the results obtained using this method are more easily reinterpreted as the population changes.


METHODS
Pure-tone average (PTA) and age information were collected for 84,200 HAs acquired in 2006 and 2007. The distribution of PTA and age was quantified for each HA type and for a composite of all HA users.


RESULTS
Based on their respective distributions, PTA and age were each divided into three groups, the combination of which defined the stratification plan. The most populous PTA and age group was also subdivided, allowing greater homogeneity within strata. Finally, the percentage of users in each stratum was calculated.


CONCLUSIONS
This article provides a stratified sampling plan for HA research, based on a quantitative analysis of the distribution of PTA and age for HA users. Adopting such a sampling plan will make HA research results more representative and generalizable. In addition, data acquired using such plans can be reinterpreted as the HA population changes.
Aronoff
Justin M
JM
Division of Communication and Auditory Neuroscience, House Ear Institute, Los Angeles, California 90057, USA. jaronoff@hei.org
Yoon
Yang-soo
YS
Soli
Sigfrid D
SD
D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D016208:Databases, Factual; D006310:Hearing Aids / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D015233:Models, Statistical; D012494:Sampling Studies; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology