Predictors of daily assessed hearing aid use and hearing capability using visual analogue scales

Following the fitting of hearing aids, 53 patients rated themselves daily during one week on visual analogue scales dealing with aspects of the hearing aids (HA) and hearing capability. Before this, the prescribing audiology assistant categorized the patient into one of four groups depending on whether she thought the patient was going to be successful or not at home after the fitting. Also compared were the effects of type of audiogram, type of hearing aid and monaural or binaural fitting on the self-assessed and audiological variables. Finally, a series of multiple regressions were performed on the data set. The results showed that the audiology assistant could predict some aspects of HA usage, but not hearing capability. Patients rated the BTE and the ITC aids as clearer than the ITE aids, but a wide range of aids were prescribed making conclusions difficult. No clear effects were found for type of audiogram or type of fitting. Multiple regressions showed that clearness of sound in the HA was the most important variable in predicting the results on hearing capability. The use of repeated daily measures is recommended in research on the effects of HA fitting.