Scaling patient reports of hearing aid benefit

Records of 743 adults seen for rehabilitation with amplification in 1978-82, were used to study the measurement properties of four widely used, single-item benefit scales. Patients in this sample displayed mild to severe adventitious losses and had been fitted with their first aid(s). Data relating to degree of hearing loss, age, and employment status were analyzed. Responses to Hutton's Hearing Problem Inventory (J. Acad. Rehab. Audiol., 1980, 13, 133-154), administered 6 weeks pre and post rehabilitation, were used to obtain estimates of benefit: hrs/day and portion of time aid(s) were worn, its benefit in various situations, and degree of satisfaction. From the HPI was abstracted a single index of perceived pre-post gain (PPPG). Matrix analyses separately for the employed and the unemployed pts isolating hearing loss and employment status revealed that when amount of hearing loss was the validity criterion, the employment groups differed only in hrs/day and portion of time worn, the employed group reporting a trend for more hrs/day of wear as hearing loss increased. When PPPG was the criterion, only one benefit index, dissatisfaction, did not increase with PPPG. Of 16 Spearman rank correlations between benefit indices and validity criteria, 6 were significant. The benefit scale of hrs/day of wear yielded 3, that for dissatisfaction, none. It was concluded that PPPG was the criterion best used to validate benefit scales as compared with the criteria of hearing loss or employment status.