Social representation of hearing aids: cross-cultural study in India, Iran, Portugal, and the United Kingdom.
BACKGROUND
The current study was aimed at understanding the social representation of hearing aids in India, Iran, Portugal, and the United Kingdom. We also compared these results to explore the cross-cultural differences and similarities among these countries.


METHODS
The study involved a cross-sectional design, and the data were collected from four different countries using the snowball sampling method. Data were analyzed using a content analysis to identify the most-similar categories of responses reported, a co-occurrences analysis to see which of these categories are reported commonly, and a chi-square analysis to study if there was any association between positive, neutral, and negative connotations among participants in different countries.


RESULTS
The current study revealed four different social representations of hearing aids from India, Iran, Portugal, and the United Kingdom, and also a global index.


CONCLUSIONS
The study results provide very useful insights into how hearing aids are represented in the society. These findings may have important implications for public education and also for manufacturers from the viewpoint of designing and marketing hearing aids in different countries.
Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Lamar University, Beaumont, Texas, USA.
Vinaya
V
Manchaiah
Swedish Institute for Disability Research, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden.
Berth
B
Danermark
Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, Norway.
Vinay
Department of Audiology, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Tayebeh
T
Ahmadi
Department of Audiology, School of Allied Health Sciences, Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal.
David
D
Tomé
All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, University of Mysore, Mysore, India.
Rajalakshmi
R
Krishna
The Department of Health and Welfare Studies, Malmö University, Malmö, Sweden.
Per
P
Germundsson
D000328:Adult; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006310:Hearing Aids; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D007492:Iran; D008297:Male; D011174:Portugal; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom
attitudes; cross-culture; hearing aids; hearing loss; perception; social representation