title: [Results of clinical use of the German version of the APHAB].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Speech audiometry studies do not deliver structured testimony of patients as to the actual benefit of hearing aids based on individual daily life experiences. This deficiency can be resolved by applying structured inventory questionnaires. The APHAB (German version) is an evaluated inventory questionnaire consisting of six questions put to patients with hearing deficiencies with and without hearing aids in four different hearing situations.
  
  
  METHODS
  We collected the APHAB data of 560 patients before and after fitting hearing aids. We also gathered personal data as to age, prior experience with hearing aids, duration of daily use of the hearing aid and degree of hearing loss.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average age of the patients was a little under 70 years, 84% had just received their first hearing aid, and 83% exhibited moderate or severe hearing loss. The APHAB results were classified in percentile and contingency tables. The latter allow one to determine conditional probabilities of the potential success of fitting a hearing aid to a new patient for each APHAB scale.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The APHAB can be applied regularly to measure the benefit of fitting a hearing aid to a patient in particular in problematic hearing situations. By registering the personal view of the patients, it expands the scope of the standard methods (e.g., speech audiometry) so that the quality of diagnostics and therapy can be improved. It qualitatively records the success of hearing aid fitting, predicts potential problem areas and thereby may reduce the number of unused hearing aids.
authors: Wissenschaftliches Institut für angewandte HNO-Heilkunde, Deutscher Berufsverband der HNO-Ärzte e. V., Maienbeeck 1, Bad Bramstedt, Germany. loehler@hno-aerzte.de
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Löhler
authors: L
authors: L
authors: Moser
authors: D
authors: D
authors: Heinrich
authors: K
authors: K
authors: Hörmann
authors: L E
authors: LE
authors: Walther
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006310:Hearing Aids / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D015995:Prevalence; D011379:Prognosis; D017755:Prosthesis Fitting / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome