Clinical Analysis of Hearing Aid Failure

Abstract

Background and Objectives: An hearing aid is a useful tool for hearing rehabilitation when surgical hearing correction is not indicated. Successful hearing aid rehabilitation is affected by various factors such as the degree and types of hearing impairment, personality, motivation and duration of adaptation. We aimed to identify factors for satisfying hearing aid by analysis and comparison of the successful and the failure groups of hearing aid users, and to recognize problems of hearing aid prescribed in the non-medical institutes. Subjects and Method: Two hundred and sixty six ears of 202 hearing aid users were referred to the Ajou Hearing Center for two years, and their clinical data were retrospectively reviewed including hearing status and hearing aid type. Twenty ears were prescribed by the non-medical institutes and others were 1st time users. The failure group of hearing aid users was defined when they gave up using hearing aid and requested for refund after an adaptation period of more than one month. Results: Hearing aids failed to work in 9% of 266 ears. All problems of previous hearing aid users were solved by represcription and functional modification of hearing aids. The portion of patients older than 65 year old was not different in two groups, but the portion of female patients in the failure group was significantly larger than that in the success group (p=0.01). The unaided speech discrimination score was significantly higher in the success group (p=0.02). The most common cause of hearing aid failure was poor speech discrimination than expectation. Conclusion: The speech discrimination score and sex are considered as important factors for successful rehabilitation of hearing aid. The prescription of hearing aids and follow-ups in the experienced medical institutes would predict better outcome. The realization of expectation level is of importance when interviewing hearing aid candidates. Further clinical study is necessary for satisfying hearing aid rehabilitation.