Hearing Aid Adoption Rates: Perceptions, Attitudes, and Influencing Factors of Prospective Hearing Aid Users.

Abstract

Background: Although approximately 80 percent of hearing loss cases are treatable with hearing aids (HAs), only one in four individuals who may benefit from them pursue them. Along with audiologists, physicians are integral parts of the hearing-health care team. Whether patients with hearing loss are more likely to pursue HA use based on the physician recommendation is unknown.Purpose: To investigate motivating factors and perceptions of prospective HA users, particularly the role of physician recommendations.Research Design: Patients 18 years and older who underwent an HA evaluation at our practice between January 2018 and December 2022 were identified. Patients were given a 17-question survey to assess their demographic characteristics and factors related to HA adoption via e-mail (n = 2,677) or as a physical copy (n = 487).Study Sample: Our sample (n = 321) included 182 female patients (57 percent) and 139 male patients (43 percent). Most patients identified as White/Caucasian (86 percent), followed by Black/African American (7 percent) and Hispanic/Latino (2 percent). Most patients were older adults (age 60 years and older), and 144 (45 percent) were older than 75 years.Intervention: We assessed the demographics and motivating factors related to HA adoption based on the results of the 17-question survey.Data Collection and Analysis: Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square analyses, and multiple logistic regression. An α of 0.05 was set as the threshold of statistical significance.Results: Approximately 80 percent of participants adopted HAs after their evaluation. The most commonly selected factors that influenced their decision were cost, insurance coverage, and physician recommendation. Chi-square analyses were performed to compare these factors between patients who did and those who did not adopt HAs and yielded a significant difference (X² = 177.8; p < 0.0001). Patients' knowledge of multiple institutional locations that offer HAs (95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.23-0.98; p = 0.045) and the office where they were evaluated (95 percent CI, 0.12-0.85; p = 0.019) were significant predictors of HA adoption.Conclusions: Our findings align with those of previous studies of motivating factors for HA adoption; however, with the addition of physician recommendation, our study showed higher HA adoption rates. These findings provide audiologists and physicians with insights regarding factors that impact HA adoption, which can help them develop a more individualized care plan during the initial evaluation.