Hearing aid handling skills: relationship with satisfaction and benefit.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate hearing aid handling skills for new and experienced users and to assess if such skills influence user's benefit and satisfaction.


METHODS
Seventy four participants (mean age of 70.43), experienced (n=37) or new hearing aid users (n=37) performed the tasks of "Practical Hearing Aid Skills Test" (PHAST), which were scored on a five-point Likert scale - higher scores indicate better hearing aid handling skills. Experienced users answered the International Outcome Inventory for Hearing Aids (IOI-HA) and the hearing aid benefit for handicap reduction was calculated by the hearing handicap inventory (HHIA/HHIE).


RESULTS
Medians for PHAST total scores of 79 and 71% were obtained for experienced and new users, respectively - there were no significant difference between groups. Lower PHAST scores were observed for the tasks of volume control manipulation and telephone usage. Moderate correlations were obtained between IOI benefit and quality of life items and the PHAST scores. There was no correlation between the results of PHAST and demographic data of the participants.


CONCLUSIONS
There was no difference in handling skills between new and experienced hearing aid users. Handling skills affected hearing aid benefit.
Universidade de São Paulo, Bauru, SP, Brazil.
Patrícia Danieli
PD
Campos
Universidade de São Paulo, Bauru, SP, Brazil.
Amanda
A
Bozza
Universidade de São Paulo, Bauru, SP, Brazil.
Deborah Viviane
DV
Ferrari
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006310:Hearing Aids / Q000523:psychology*; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires