Related Experiment Videos
[Acceptance of wearing a hearing aid by children]
1Abteilung Phoniatrie/Pädaudiologie, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. ckiese@med.uni-goettingen.de
Insights
Most children accept hearing aids well, but some groups, like very young children or those with specific ear conditions, need more support. Evaluating hearing aid acceptance is key for effective treatment.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric audiology
- Otolaryngology
- Speech and hearing sciences
Context:
- Hearing aid acceptance in children is crucial for effective management of hearing loss.
- Consistent use of hearing aids is not guaranteed, necessitating evaluation of acceptance.
- Persistent hearing impairments in children require timely and appropriate intervention.
Purpose:
- To evaluate hearing aid acceptance in children using daily wearing time as a metric.
- To identify factors influencing children's acceptance of hearing aids.
Summary:
- A study of 116 children with persistent hearing impairments found that 58.6% had "excellent" or "good" hearing aid acceptance.
- Acceptance was lower in children with unilateral hearing loss, particularly those with ear malformations.
- Very young children, those with additional handicaps, or non-German speaking homes showed poorer wearing behavior.
Impact:
- Hearing aid acceptance is a sensitive indicator for detecting amplification issues and changes in diagnosis.
- Regularly assessing hearing aid acceptance can improve compliance and treatment outcomes.
- Findings can inform targeted interventions to enhance hearing aid use in specific pediatric populations.
Background:
Having one or 2 hearing aids is not a guarantee that a child will wear the instruments constantly. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the hearing aid acceptance by children (assessed using the daily wearing time).
Patients And Methods:
A total of 116 parents of a patient population of persistent hearing-impaired children with a need for a hearing aid (average age 51.1 +/- 30.1 months) rated the wearing acceptance of their children on a 5-point-Likert-scale. This assessment was made after the child had received its individual hearing aid for its specific disorder (on average after 5 months). Hearing levels ranged from mild to profound.
Results:
58.6% of the children accepted their electroacoustic aids amplier "excellent" or "good", 18.1% did it "average", 23.3% "bad" to "miserable" or even "not at all". There was no significant difference between girls and boys. The wearing acceptance from children with unilateral hearing impairments was reduced, especially from those with chronic conductive disorders by malformations of the ears. Very young children (prelingual hearing impairments), mainly those with additional handicaps and/or not German speaking homes demonstrated a "bad" to missing wearing behaviour. Hearing acceptance did not correlate with the severity of the disorder.
Conclusion:
The wearing acceptance as one aspect of compliance should be rated before each regular hearing aid control. Finally it is an efficient and sensitive mean to detect faulty amplification and changed diagnosis.