Development and Initial Validation of a Consumer Questionnaire to Predict the Presence of Ear Disease.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

The already large population of individuals with age- or noise-related hearing loss in the United States is increasing, yet hearing aids remain largely inaccessible. The recent decision by the US Food and Drug Administration to not enforce the medical examination prior to hearing aid fitting highlights the need to reengineer consumer protections when increasing accessibility. A self-administered tool to estimate ear disease risk would provide disease surveillance without posing an unreasonable barrier to hearing aid procurement.

Objective

To develop and validate a consumer questionnaire for the self-assessment of risk for ear diseases associated with hearing loss.

Design, setting, and participants

The questionnaire was developed using established methods in

SUBMITTER: Kleindienst SJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5710257 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature