Use and benefit of postaural aid in sensory hearing loss

A sample of postaural hearing aid users was followed through adaptation to use of an aid over an 18-month period subsequent to issue. Minor assistance and advice was given but no intensive hearing therapy or other instruction. A miniature timing device was installed in an aid substituted for a few days to provide a check on self-reported extent of use. On both objective and self-report measures, postaural aids receive substantially greater use than the body-worn aids in comparable previous investigations, about half the aids being used over 4 hours per day. Word-identification of free-field listening in aided and unaided conditions showed advantages of 10% or more in only 45% of those tested, yet questionnaire responses suggested reliable subjective benefits in specific listening situations. The results justify taking not only measures of speech identification improvement but also questionnaire measures and measures of time of use in field trials when evaluating overall effectiveness of aid provision.