Exploring factors influencing hearing Aid uptake: insights from a Korean population with unilateral and bilateral...

To evaluate audiological and nonaudiological predictors of hearing aid (HA) uptake in patients with unilateral hearing loss (UHL) and bilateral hearing loss (BHL).

Retrospective study.

A total of 655 patients with UHL and 3,699 patients with BHL were retrospectively included over a 10-year period. The primary audiological measurements were 4-frequency average pure-tone audiometry, speech discrimination score, hearing loss type, and presence of tinnitus.

The HA uptake rates in patients with UHL and BHL were 28.4% and 45.0%, respectively. In the UHL group, no substantial differences were identified between the HA uptake and refusal groups, except for sex. In contrast, the BHL group showed significant differences based on age, sex, and hearing threshold.The significant associations between potential explanatory variables and HA uptake were observed for age, SDS, and tinnitus, with odd ratios of 1.015, 1.004, and 1.251, respectively. The predictive accuracy (discriminating power) was 52.0% for UHL and 55.9% for BHL.

The statistical analysis of this study indicates that audiological predictors accounted for approximately 50% of the impact on HA uptake. Our findings underscore the importance of considering nonaudiological factors during counselling to enhance HA uptake.