Contributed by Andy Waits

at Waits Hearing Center

Hearing aids are remarkable devices. These small electronic devices can make the difference between hearing and not hearing.

Hearing aids can allow a person to continue working, make communication with family and friends easier, or help a child learn how to speak.

Just how helpful are hearing aids? A study of nearly 200 adults found that hearing aids are “very successful treatments for reversing the social, emotional and communication dysfunction caused by hearing impairments.”

Most of the people involved in the study had mild or moderate hearing loss, and none had ever used hearing aids. Nearly all the individuals reported that their hearing loss was causing problems in their daily lives.

The researchers evaluated the effects of hearing loss on each person's quality of life. They used four questionnaires, such as the Self Evaluation of Life Function and the Hearing Handicap Inventory.

The questionnaires asked about the participants' daily activities, their ability to hear in different settings and their feelings and attitudes about their hearing problems. The investigators found that “marked social, emotional and communication difficulties are caused by hearing loss... even in cases of [only] mild to moderate loss.”

Half of the individuals were then fitted with hearing aids. Six weeks later, questionnaires were again used to study the effects of hearing loss on each person's daily life.

The questionnaire results obtained after individuals used hearing aids for six weeks indicated “large quality of life improvements in the areas of communication and social function” in those individuals who received hearing aids, but not in those individuals who did not receive hearing aids. Everyone in the study was subsequently fitted with hearing aids.

Based on the results of this study, the researchers concluded that “hearing aids represent a relatively inexpensive therapy for the amount of benefit gained.”

The finding that hearing aids provided considerable help are, of course, no surprise to us. We also know that the problems caused by hearing loss can be frustrating, even when hearing aids are providing important benefits. Everyone we know would like their hearing aids to help even more, but it's also important to remember just how much hearing aids actually do help.

There is a significant relationship between hearing loss and physical and psychosocial impairment. LaForge, et al. studied 1,408 elderly adults and found that persons with visual or auditory impairment were more than three times likely to have a “decline in functional health” than were unimpaired individuals, including a higher incidence of heart disease, hypertension and osteoarthritis.

The data from these and other studies indicate that, because of their hearing loss, individuals may experience increased feelings of isolation, depression, loneliness, anger and frustration. Researchers have speculated that the increased incidence of health dysfunction may be a result of these feelings of isolation, depression and frustration.

A paper published recently in The Hearing Journal reported findings of an investigation into the effects of hearing aid use on functional health status. Results of an earlier study by Mulrow (1990) have already demonstrated that “hearing aids are very successful treatments for reversing the social, emotional and communication dysfunction caused by hearing impairment.” Can hearing aid use also improve functional health status?

Crandell (1998) concluded, “The use of hearing aids can reduce functional health difficulties in elderly listeners with sensorineural hearing loss.” He compared this effect to previous findings that individuals with positive attitudes about their illness tend to have lower morbidity and mortality rates and speculated that the improvements in health status may be because of the enhancement in communicative function. That is, “Improved communicative function resulted in reduced psychosocial deficits, which, in turn, reduced the degree of functional impairment.”

In other words, the improved communication that occurred as a result of using hearing aids may have improved the individual's perception of health impairment rather than his or her actual physical status. Research is now underway that is examining physical change in health status as a function of hearing aid use.

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