Short summary

Hearing aids are typically fitted based on a patient's audiogram, even though the audiogram cannot capture individual hearing difficulties and needs fully. Thus, suboptimal hearing aid outcome is common. Previous research has identified self-reported hearing handicap as a promising predictor of hearing aid uptake, use and satisfaction. However, hearing handicap is not systematically assessed in clinical practice, and so the value of doing so for hearing aid fitting is currently unclear.

Rationale

The aims of this project are (1) to evaluate a Danish translation of a well-established self-report measure of hearing handicap in terms of its psychometric properties, (2) to compare the predictive power of this measure in relation to hearing aid benefit to that of established audiological tests, and (3) to investigate its usefulness for tailoring advanced hearing aid functions to individual users.

Description of the cohort

Older adults with a broad range of hearing abilities from Odense municipality and nearby.

Data and biological material

Demographic data, standard hearing tests, speech perception data, questionnaire data

Collaborating researchers and departments

Dept. of Speech, Language & Hearing Sciences, Indiana University, USA

• Dr. Larry Humes, Emeritus Distinguished Professor