Performance of hearing aids and wearer satisfaction--a two year study

A group of 66 patients with newly acquired hearing aids were seen at intervals over a two year period. The hearing aids' performance was measured at each visit. Many aids were not performing according to manufacturer's specifications but their performance as a group did not deteriorate over two years. Aids required on average nearly two repairs in the two year period, eyeglass aids being slightly more fragile than other types. Most of the patients were satisfied with their aids and their degree of satisfaction was found to correlate with their aided speech discrimination score.