Changes in attitudes toward hearing loss and hearing aids and their association with hearing‑aid abandonment among experienced older adults hearing‑aid users
Contact us if these videos are not relevant.
Contact us if these videos are not relevant.
View abstract on PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.Shifting attitudes toward hearing loss and hearing aids predict hearing aid abandonment in older adults. Increased social support can positively influence attitudes, potentially reducing abandonment rates.
Area Of Science
- Audiology
- Gerontology
- Public Health
Background
- High hearing aid abandonment rates persist despite their role in managing age-related hearing loss.
- Limited understanding exists regarding attitude changes over time and their impact on hearing aid use.
- Investigating attitudinal shifts and their predictors is crucial for addressing hearing aid abandonment.
Purpose Of The Study
- To examine if changes in attitudes toward hearing loss and hearing aids correlate with social and clinical factors.
- To determine if attitudinal changes predict hearing aid abandonment in older adults.
Main Methods
- A prospective longitudinal study followed 31 older adults for 6 years after hearing aid fitting.
- Attitudes were assessed using the Spanish Attitudes towards Loss of Hearing Questionnaire (S-ALHQ) at baseline and follow-up.
- Hearing aid abandonment was self-reported using the International Outcome Inventory for Hearing Aids (IOI-HA).
Main Results
- Attitudes towards hearing loss and aids showed a slight median increase in positivity.
- Baseline social support significantly predicted changes in attitudes.
- Negative attitudinal shifts increased the risk of hearing aid abandonment (RR=2.11); higher income decreased abandonment risk (RR=0.39).
Conclusions
- Social support at baseline is a key predictor of attitude changes regarding hearing aids.
- A shift towards negative attitudes can forecast hearing aid abandonment.
- Interventions addressing negative attitudinal shifts, particularly coping strategies, may reduce hearing aid abandonment among older adults.
Contact us if these videos are not relevant.
Contact us if these videos are not relevant.
Related Concept Videos
When we hear a sound, our nervous system is detecting sound waves—pressure waves of mechanical energy traveling through a medium. The frequency of the wave is perceived as pitch, while the amplitude is perceived as loudness.
Sound waves are collected by the external ear and amplified as they travel through the ear canal. When sounds reach the junction between the outer and middle ear, they vibrate the tympanic membrane—the eardrum. The resulting mechanical energy causes the...
Attitude is our evaluation of a person, an idea, or an object. We have attitudes for many things ranging from products that we might pick up in the supermarket to people around the world to political policies. Typically, attitudes are favorable or unfavorable: positive or negative (Eagly & Chaiken, 1993). And, they have three components: an affective component (feelings), a behavioral component (the effect of the attitude on behavior), and a cognitive component (belief and knowledge;...
During the 1950s, the landmark Robbers Cave experiment demonstrated that when groups must compete with one another, intergroup conflict, hostility, and even violence may result. At the Oklahoman summer camp, two troops of boys—termed the Rattlers and the Eagles—took part in a week-long tournament. During this time, their negativity culminated in derogatory name-calling, fistfights, and even vandalism and destruction of property. However, this work also revealed that such tension...
Obedience to authority is classically demonstrated in a more famous series of social psychology experiments performed by Stanley Milgram. He was a social psychology professor at Yale who was influenced by the trial of Adolf Eichmann, a Nazi war criminal. Eichmann’s defense for the atrocities he committed was that he was “just following orders.”
Milgram’s Experiments
Milgram (1963) wanted to test the validity of this defense, so he designed an experiment and...
The different configurations of source-load connections include wye (star) and delta connections. The relationship between line and phase voltages and currents varies depending on the configuration. When the source is supplying power, it is transmitted through the wires to the load, and during this transmission, some power is absorbed by the wires, leading to line loss.
Line loss impacts power delivery efficiency in a balanced three-phase circuit. The symmetry in such a circuit simplifies the...
In a three-phase circuit, line loss is an indicator of energy dissipated as heat due to the resistance of transmission lines. To address this, incorporating transformers into the system—a step-up transformer at the source and a step-down transformer at the load—is a strategic solution. Two three-phase transformers are introduced to improve this.
With a step-up transformer at the source, the voltage is increased, thereby reducing the current in the transmission lines since power loss in...