Outcomes of Direct-to-Consumer Hearing Devices for People with Hearing Loss: A Review

As the population of those with mild to moderate hearing loss increases the need remains for amplification solutions. There is a trend to offer alternative amplification options beyond traditional hearing aids. Due to reduced medical risk associated with the most common types of hearing loss (i.e., presbycusis and noise induced), many individuals with such audiological configurations may have success with direct-to-consumer hearing devices (DCHD). The current paper presents a literature review of studies focused on the outcomes of DCHDs for people with hearing loss. Search of electronic databases were used to identify relevant articles for review. Studies on outcomes of DCHDs mainly focused on older adults and reported consistently positive results in clinical and self-reported outcome measures. Improvements in auditory ability, communicative function, social engagement, quality of life, and reduction of self-reported hearing disability were observed. The nature of the direct-to-consumer method makes it challenging to design studies that will accurately represent outcomes for patients due to the extensive dissimilarities in patient journey and device selection options. Accordingly, a majority of the studies conducted on this topic are of low quality of evidence and only provide short-term (i.e., less than one year) outcomes. In addition, results may have been influenced by researcher and/or clinician involvement in choosing the devices and by provision of additional support (i.e., incorporation of a communication partner and communication strategies training). Overall, the literature suggests positive outcomes and self-reported benefit of DCHDs in older adults with hearing loss. However, additional research is needed in this area to verify outcomes.

The Characteristics and Affecting Factors of Speech Fluency in Preschool Hearing-impairedChildren with Different Hearing Devices / 听力学及言语疾病杂志

Objective To analyze the characteristics of the speech fluency of preschool hearing-impaired children with hearing devices ,and to explore influence of different hearing devices, age, ender and intervention time on their speech fluency.Methods A total of 109 subjects of normal children and hearing-impaired children were induded in this study.They were divided into 3 groups, 30 of normal children , 28 of hearing-impaired children with hearing aids , 26 of hearing-impaired children with cochlear implants, 25 of hearing-impaired children with Cochlear implant and hearing aids.Their speech speed,pause,repetition,and prolongation in spontaneous language tasks by exploring the influence of factors such as hearing devices'' types,age, gender and intervention time difference to their speech fluency were studied.Results (1) The speed in normal children was significantly higher than those of in the other three groups(P0.05).The speech speed of children with hearing aids was higher than children with cochlear implants(P=0.045).Children with cochlear implant had more pauses than children with hearing aids(P=0.028).The speech speed of hearing-impaired children in 3.5~5 years old was lower than hearing-impaired children in 5.1~6.5 years old(P=0.042).The speech speed of hearing-impaired children who receive intervention less than 2.5 years, was higher than the children who receive intervention more than 2.5 years(P=0.002),while children who receive intervention less than 2.5 years had more pauses(P=0.047) and prolongations(P=0.002).Conclusion (1)Preschool hearing-impaired children''s speed is lower than the normal, and the times of pause and prolongation is more than the normal.(2) Different hearing devices and intervention time influence preschool hearing-impaired children''s verbal fluency, while gender have no effects.