Effect of Hearing Rehabilitation Therapy Program in Hearing Aid Users: A Prospective Randomized Controlled Study

Area of Science:

• Audiology
• Speech and Hearing Sciences
• Rehabilitation Medicine

Background:

• Many hearing aid users struggle with word recognition despite adequate hearing gain.
• Poor speech perception significantly impacts quality of life for individuals with hearing loss.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a novel hearing rehabilitation therapy (HRT) program.
• To evaluate the efficacy of HRT in improving hearing aid outcomes.

Main Methods:

• A prospective randomized controlled trial involving 37 participants with moderate to moderate-severe sensorineural hearing loss.
• Participants were assigned to either a control group (CG) or an 8-week HRT program (HRTG).
• Outcomes measured included hearing results, hearing handicap, and hearing aid outcome questionnaires.

Main Results:

• The HRTG demonstrated significant improvements in consonant-only and consonant-vowel sound perception compared to the CG (P<0.05).
• Subjective hearing ability, assessed via questionnaires, significantly improved in the HRTG but not the CG (p<0.05).
• No significant differences were found in word and sentence recognition tests between groups.

Conclusions:

• Short-term HRT can lead to subjective improvements in hearing outcomes and enhanced phoneme perception for hearing aid users.
• The findings suggest a positive role for HRT programs in optimizing hearing aid effectiveness.
• Further research with larger populations and long-term follow-up is warranted to validate these results.