Hearing Loss
Conditions
Keywords
hearing loss, hearing aids, spouses, rehabilitation
Brief summary
The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of enhanced patient-centered counseling (PCC) and the influence of spousal involvement in pre-fitting counseling on hearing-aid outcomes.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALInformational Counseling
BEHAVIORALPatient Centered Counseling
Sponsors
US Department of Veterans Affairs
VA National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
20 Years to 85 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
Both men and women with hearing loss and their live-in partners will serve as subjects in this study. The subjects with hearing loss will have a mild to moderately-severe hearing loss in both of the ears, will have word recognition scores of 40% or better bilaterally, and will be about to get new hearing aids. Live-in partners may also have up to a moderately-severe degree of hearing loss but cannot have prior experience with hearing aids nor have plans to get hearing aids during the course of their participation in this study. Their word recognition scores should also be 40% or better bilaterally. All subjects also will meet the following additional inclusion criteria: 1. Age 20-85 years; 2. Intact mental status as assessed by the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE; Folstein, Folstein & McHugh, 1975); 3. No evidence of any major medical illness requiring long-term assistive care, as determined by the Katz Index of Independence in Activities of Daily Living (Katz, Down, Cash &Grotz, 1970); 4. Able to read and respond to English; and 5. Willing and able to give written informed consent to participate in this investigation.
Exclusion criteria
Failure to satisfy any of the requirements listed above or if their live-in partner fails to meet the criteria.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| post-use subjective opinions regarding the hearing aids | 4-6 weeks after the hearing aid fitting | questionnaires |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| pre-use hearing aid expectations | immediately after the intervention at Visit #2 (Day 0) | questionnaire |
Other
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| self-efficacy | 4-6 weeks after the hearing aid fitting | questionnaires |
| hearing aid use | 4-6 weeks after the hearing aid fitting | datalogging |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed