Dataset Information

Hearing aid trial periods: Audiologists' thoughts and practices in South Africa.

ABSTRACT: The process of adjusting and becoming accustomed to hearing aids may be best facilitated by providing a hearing aid trial period. Globally, there are no standardised frameworks or regulations on the recommended hearing aid trial period. The main purpose of this study was to explore audiologists' hearing aid trialing practices. A cross sectional study employed a quantitative, descriptive design to formulate the study. Ninety-five audiologists' were recruited by means of a purposive sampling strategy. Data were collected through the use of an online survey via Google forms. A pilot study was conducted prior to the commencement of the main study in order to ensure reliability of the main study. The results indicated that two weeks was the most recommended duration of a trial period from audiologists'. Majority of audiologists' (72.63%) offer hearing aid trials to their patients. Most audiologists' who offer hearing aid trials choose to trial their patients with two different hearing aids. Findings revealed a need for trialing periods to become standard practice by audiologists' when fitting hearing aids. Not enough audiologists' are providing this service.

SUBMITTER: Heliopoulos A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10624272 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Hearing aid trial periods: Audiologists' thoughts and practices in South Africa.

Heliopoulos Angie A Moroe Nomfundo N

PLOS global public health 20231103 11

The process of adjusting and becoming accustomed to hearing aids may be best facilitated by providing a hearing aid trial period. Globally, there are no standardised frameworks or regulations on the recommended hearing aid trial period. The main purpose of this study was to explore audiologists' hearing aid trialing practices. A cross sectional study employed a quantitative, descriptive design to formulate the study. Ninety-five audiologists' were recruited by means of a purposive sampling strat ...[more]

PMID: 37922231

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Project description:BACKGROUND:Audiologists and Speech Therapists play a vital role in addressing sustainable development goals by supporting people who are marginalised due to communication challenges. The global burden of disease and poor social living conditions impact negatively on the development of healthy communication, therefore requiring the services of Audiologist and Speech therapists. Against this background, we examined the demographic profile and the supply, need and shortfall of Audiologists and Speech Therapists in South Africa. METHODS:The data set was drawn from the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) registers (for 2002-2017) for the speech, language and hearing professions. This demographic profile of the professions was created based on the category of health personnel; category of practice, geographical location, population group (race) and sex. The annual supply was estimated from the HPCSA database while the service-target approach was used to estimate need. Additional need based on National Health Insurance Bill was also included. Supply-need gaps were forecast according to three scenarios, which varied according to the future intensity of policy intervention to increase occupancy of training places: 'best guess' (no intervention), 'optimistic' (feasible intervention), and 'aspirational' (significant intervention) scenarios up to 2030. RESULTS:Most (i.e. 1548, 47.4%) of the professionals are registered as Audiologists and Speech Therapists, followed by 33.5% registered as Speech Therapists and 19.1% registered as Audiologists. Around 88.5% professionals registered as Audiologists and Speech Therapists are practising independently, and 42.6% are practising in the Gauteng province. The profession is comprised majorly of women (94.6%), and in terms of the population groups (race), they are mainly classified as white (59.7%). In 2017, in best guess scenario, there is a supply-need gap of around 2800 professionals. In the absence of any intervention to increase supply capacity, this shortfall will remain same by the year 2030. By contrast, in aspirational scenario, i.e. supply is increased by 300%, the forecasted shortfall for 2030 reduces to 2300 from 2800 professionals. CONCLUSIONS:It is clear that without significant interventions, South Africa is likely to have a critical shortfall of Audiologists and Speech Therapists in 2030. Policy-makers will have to carefully examine issues surrounding the current framework regulating training of these and associated professionals, in order to respond adequately to future requirements.

Project description:IntroductionHearing loss results in the breakdown of communication by affecting the ability to engage socially, leading to isolation socially and emotionally. The combination of behavioral, social, emotional, and psychological consequences is expressed as the "psychosocial" impacts of hearing loss. The aim of the study was to determine the knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAPs) of Indian audiologists in addressing the psychosocial needs of persons with hearing loss. The objectives are to develop and validate the KAP questionnaire for Indian audiologists and to assess the KAP of Indian audiologists toward the psychosocial needs of persons with hearing loss.MethodThis study included 332 participants in the age group of 25-60 years with a minimum of 2 years of working experience and was divided into 2 phases. The first phase was a qualitative study that focused on the development and validation of the questionnaire including 3 domains. The second phase was a cross-sectional survey of administering the developed questionnaire to audiologists pan-India through social media platforms using Google Forms.ResultsThe results revealed that in the knowledge domain, percentage scores of good, fair, and poor knowledge of audiologists were 46.98%, 40.06%, and 12.95%, respectively. In the attitude domain, percentage scores for positive (81.32%), neutral (17.46%), and negative (1.2%) attitudes to address psychosocial needs were noted. Further, in the practice domain, it was 73.49% for good practice, 23.7% for fair practice, and 2.71% for poor practice.ConclusionThe outcome of the study clearly revealed the need to expand audiological services for considering and managing the psychological factors caused by hearing loss causing communication problems. Audiologists have evinced interest in attaining more knowledge to improve the attitude they hold and enhance their practice skills. This will enable them to address such needs carefully and provide the best possible counseling and referrals, contributing to overall well-being and quality of life.

Project description:ImportanceHearing loss is a highly prevalent condition, with numerous debilitating consequences when left untreated. However, less than 20% of US adults with hearing loss use hearing aids. Over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids became available in October 2022 to improve access and affordability. However, clinical effectiveness studies of available OTC hearing aids using the existing devices in the market are limited.ObjectiveTo compare the clinical effectiveness of a self-fitting OTC hearing aid with remote support and a hearing aid fitted using audiologist-fitted best practices.Design, setting, and participantsThis randomized clinical effectiveness trial was conducted between April 14 and August 29, 2022. Sixty-eight adults with self-perceived mild to moderate hearing loss were recruited and randomly assigned to either the self-fitting or the audiologist-fitted group. Following bilateral hearing aid fitting, participants first completed a 2-week, take-home field trial without any support. Access to fine-tuning for both groups was only available after the 2-week trial. Support and adjustment were provided remotely for the self-fitting group per request and by the audiologist for the audiologist-fitted group. Participants were then reassessed after an additional 4-week take-home trial.InterventionsA commercially available self-fitting OTC hearing aid was provided to participants in the self-fitting group who were expected to set up the hearing aids using the commercially supplied instructional material and accompanying smartphone application. In the audiologist-fitted group, audiologists fitted the same hearing aid according to the National Acoustics Laboratories nonlinear version 2 algorithm for prescriptive gain target using real-ear verification with hearing aid use instruction.Main outcomes and measuresThe primary outcome measure was self-reported hearing aid benefit, measured using the Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit (APHAB). Secondary measures included the International Outcome Inventory for Hearing Aids (IOI-HA) and speech recognition in noise measured using an abbreviated speech-in-noise test and a digits-in-noise test. All measures were completed at baseline and at 2 intervals following hearing aid fitting (2 and 6 weeks).ResultsSixty-four participants were included in the analytic sample (33 men [51.6%]; mean [SD] age, 63.6 [14.1] years), with equal numbers of participants (n = 32) randomized into each group. The groups did not differ significantly in age (effect size r = -0.2 [95% CI, -0.3 to 0.2]) or 4-frequency pure-tone average (effect size r = 0.2 [95% CI, -0.1 to 0.4]). After the 2-week field trial, the self-fitting group had an initial advantage compared with the audiologist-fitted group on the self-reported APHAB (Cohen d = -0.5 [95% CI, -1.0 to 0]) and IOI-HA (effect size r = 0.3 [95% CI, 0.0-0.5]) but not speech recognition in noise. At the end of the 6-week trial, no meaningful differences were evident between the groups on any outcome measures.Conclusion and relevanceIn this randomized clinical effectiveness trial, self-fitting OTC hearing aids with remote support yielded outcomes at 6 weeks post fitting comparable to those of hearing aids fitted using audiologist best practices. These findings suggest that self-fitting OTC hearing aids may provide an effective intervention for mild to moderate hearing loss.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05337748.

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Hearing aid trial periods: Audiologists' thoughts and practices in South Africa.

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Hearing aid trial periods: Audiologists' thoughts and practices in South Africa.

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