Social Context and Hearing Aid Adoption

Hearing rehabilitation tends to focus on the influence of intraindividual factors and concepts such as readiness for change and health beliefs. In contrast, less is known about the role of social context and the potential role of significant others on hearing aid adoption. This explorative retrospective study investigated whether hearing aid adoption is associated with significant other attendance at audiology appointments. The study sample consisted of 33,933 and 27,031 individuals who attended appointments either alone or with a significant other, respectively (n = 60,964). It was found that hearing aid adoption was significantly greater when patients attended audiology appointments with a significant other (63.8%) than when attending appointments alone (50.6%). The association between hearing aid adoption and attendance by a significant other was hearing dependent, with 96% higher hearing aid adoption for patients with mild hearing losses when patients attended appointments with a significant other than when attending appointments alone. Hearing aid return rates were comparable when patients attended appointments alone (27%) or with a significant other (24%). Several potential explanations for the observed association are discussed. The pattern of results is consistent with the view that greater adherence is observed when audiologic care is provided from a patient-centered care perspective. Future research should establish whether there is a causal relationship between attendance at appointments by significant others and hearing aid adoption and should attempt to better understand the mechanisms underpinning the relationship between these variables.