[Identifying factors before the provision of hearing aids. Results from a pilot study]. / Untersuchung von Faktoren bei der Erstversorgung mit Hörgeräten. Ergebnisse einer Pilotstudie.

OBJECTIVE: Systematic research on factors before the provision of hearing aids is scarce. In order to identify parameters which promote or impede the use of hearing aids, a questionnaire-based survey was conducted. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A total of 35 randomly chosen, hard of hearing adults indicated for a hearing aid were examined. The importance of speech in quiet and in noise, wearing comfort, sound quality, appearance and costs, as well as expectations, willingness to use a hearing aid and reasons for and against provision were determined. RESULTS: Speech in noise and quiet were most important, followed by comfort of wearing and appearance of the aid. Expectations towards the hearing aids were in general high. The willingness to use hearing devices was positively affected by the expectation that it would improve quality of life and negatively by the amount of social activity of the person. The main reasons against the use of hearing aids were appearance and lack of confidence in hearing aid technology. CONCLUSIONS: This pilot-study identified several parameters which might affect willingness to use hearing aids. In particular, expectations towards the aids, personal attitude towards hearing and communication problems and the appearance of hearing aids should be subject to further examination.

Using conjoint analysis to examine the importance of hearing aid attributes.

OBJECTIVE: To introduce conjoint analysis (CA) as a method to explain choice decisions of hearing aid users and to measure the contributions of different hearing aid attributes involved. DESIGN: The study was conducted using CA, a method that is well established in marketing, but has not been used for hearing aid research. CA examines the contributions (importance) various attributes make to overall preference judgements. It is based on the premises that objects (i.e., hearing aids) can be described as different combinations of several attributes. The relative importance of the attributes is estimated from integral judgements of hypothetical hearing aids. The advantages of CA are a more realistic presentation of complete products instead of isolated attributes and the consideration of trade-offs between the features. The following attributes selected from 12 features in a prestudy were included in the application: speech perception in quiet, speech perception in noise, handling, sound quality, localization, and feedback. 93 randomly chosen experienced hearing aid wearers participated in the survey. RESULTS: It was found that the attributes concerning speech perception were by far most important. Speech discrimination in quiet and in noise were almost equally significant and contributed with 56% to the preference decisions of the subjects. The remaining attributes showed values in the range of 10% to 12%. When comparing various subgroups dependent on age, sex, hearing loss, satisfaction, etc., significant differences concerning the preferences were found. Elder and female subjects attached greater importance of the attribute "handling" whereas younger patients judged "speech in noise" more important. In general, subjects with greater hearing loss considered speech intelligibility in quiet to be more important than in noisy surroundings. Moreover, sound quality seems to be a significant indicator for satisfaction with the hearing aid. CONCLUSIONS: This study proposes CA as a survey technique to examine individual preferences for hearing aids. Several assumptions about the importance of hearing aid features for different groups of users could be confirmed quantitatively. Segmentation showed valid results depending on socio-demographic and user-specific parameters. The method used and the results are of interest for audiologists as well as the hearing aid industry. They provide valuable tools for future hearing aid design and should be considered in the development of self-assessment inventories.