Dataset Information

LoCHAid: An ultra-low-cost hearing aid for age-related hearing loss.

ABSTRACT: Hearing aids are the primary tool in non-medical rehabilitation for individuals with hearing loss. While the costs of the electronic components have reduced substantially, the cost of a hearing aid has risen steadily to the point that it has become unaffordable for the majority of the population with Age-Related Hearing Loss (ARHL) especially for those residing in low- and middle-income countries. Here, we present an ultra-low-cost, affordable and accessible hearing aid device ('LoCHAid'), specifically targeted towards treating ARHL in elderly patients. The LoCHAid components cost 98 cents (< $1) when purchased in bulk for 10,000 units and can be personalized for each user through a 3D-printable case. It is designed to be an over-the-counter (OTC) self-serviceable solution for elderly individuals with ARHL. Electroacoustic measurements show that the device meets most of the targets set out by the WHO Preferred Product Profile and Consumer Technology Association for hearing aids. The frequency response of the hearing aid shows selectable gain in the range of 4-8 kHz, and mild to moderate gain between 200-1000 Hz, and shows very limited total distortion (1%). Simulated gain measurements show that the LoCHAid is well fitted to a range of ARHL profiles for males and females between the ages of 60-79 years. Overall, the measurements show that the device offers the potential to benefit individuals with ARHL. Thus, our proposed design has the potential to address the challenge of affordable and accessible hearing technology for hearing impaired elderly individuals especially in low- and middle-income countries.

SUBMITTER: Sinha S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7510997 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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LoCHAid: An ultra-low-cost hearing aid for age-related hearing loss.

Sinha Soham S Irani Urvaksh D UD Manchaiah Vinaya V Bhamla M Saad MS

PloS one 20200923 9

Hearing aids are the primary tool in non-medical rehabilitation for individuals with hearing loss. While the costs of the electronic components have reduced substantially, the cost of a hearing aid has risen steadily to the point that it has become unaffordable for the majority of the population with Age-Related Hearing Loss (ARHL) especially for those residing in low- and middle-income countries. Here, we present an ultra-low-cost, affordable and accessible hearing aid device ('LoCHAid'), speci ...[more]

PMID: 32966301

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Project description:Importance:Hearing loss (HL) is common among older adults and is associated with poorer health and impeded communication. Hearing aids (HAs), while helpful in addressing some of the outcomes of HL, are not covered by Medicare. Objective:To determine whether HA use is associated with health care costs and utilization in older adults. Design, Setting, and Participants:This retrospective cohort study used nationally representative 2013-2014 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data to evaluate the use of HAs among 1336 adults aged 65 years or older with HL. An inverse propensity score weighting was applied to adjust for potential selection bias between older adults with and without HAs, all of whom reported having HL. The mean treatment outcomes of HA use on health care utilization and costs were estimated. Exposures:Encounter with the US health care system. Main Outcomes and Measures:(1) Total health care, Medicare, and out-of-pocket spending; (2) any emergency department (ED), inpatient, and office visit; and (3) number of ED visits, nights in hospital, and office visits. Results:Of the 1336 individuals included in the study, 574 (43.0%) were women; mean (SD) age was 77 (7) years. Adults without HAs (n = 734) were less educated, had lower income, and were more likely to be from minority subpopulations. The mean treatment outcomes of using HAs per participant were (1) higher total annual health care spending by $1125 (95% CI, $1114 to $1137) and higher out-of-pocket spending by $325 (95% CI, $322 to $326) but lower Medicare spending by $71 (95% CI, -$81 to -$62); (2) lower probability of any ED visit by 2 percentage points (PPs) (24% vs 26%; 95% CI, -2% to -2%) and lower probability of any hospitalization by 2 PPs (20% vs 22%; 95% CI, -3% to -1%) but higher probability of any office visit by 4 PPs (96% vs 92%; 95% CI, 4% to 4%); and (3) 1.40 more office visits (95% CI, 1.39 to 1.41) but 0.46 (5%) fewer number of hospital nights (95% CI, -0.47 to -0.44), with no association with the number of ED visits, if any (95% CI, 0.01 to 0). Conclusions and Relevance:This study demonstrates the beneficial outcomes of use of HAs in reducing the probability of any ED visits and any hospitalizations and in reducing the number of nights in the hospital. Although use of HAs reduced total Medicare costs, it significantly increased total and out-of-pocket health care spending. This information may have implications for Medicare regarding covering HAs for patients with HL.

Project description:Presbyacusis, or age-related hearing loss, can be characterized in humans as metabolic and sensory phenotypes, based on patterns of audiometric thresholds that were established in animal models. The metabolic phenotype is thought to result from deterioration of the cochlear lateral wall and reduced endocochlear potential that decreases cochlear amplification and produces a mild, flat hearing loss at lower frequencies coupled with a gradually sloping hearing loss at higher frequencies. The sensory phenotype, resulting from environmental exposures such as excessive noise or ototoxic drugs, involves damage to sensory and non-sensory cells and loss of the cochlear amplifier, which produces a 50-70 dB threshold shift at higher frequencies. The mixed metabolic + sensory phenotype exhibits a mix of lower frequency, sloping hearing loss similar to the metabolic phenotype, and steep, higher frequency hearing loss similar to the sensory phenotype. The current study examined audiograms collected longitudinally from 343 adults 50-93 years old (n = 686 ears) to test the hypothesis that metabolic phenotypes increase with increasing age, in contrast with the sensory phenotype. A Quadratic Discriminant Analysis (QDA) was used to classify audiograms from each of these ears as (1) Older-Normal, (2) Metabolic, (3) Sensory, or (4) Metabolic + Sensory phenotypes. Although hearing loss increased systematically with increasing age, audiometric phenotypes remained stable for the majority of ears (61.5 %) over an average of 5.5 years. Most of the participants with stable phenotypes demonstrated matching phenotypes for the left and right ears. Audiograms were collected over an average period of 8.2 years for ears with changing audiometric phenotypes, and the majority of those ears transitioned to a Metabolic or Metabolic + Sensory phenotype. These results are consistent with the conclusion that the likelihood of metabolic presbyacusis increases with increasing age in middle to older adulthood.

Dataset Information

LoCHAid: An ultra-low-cost hearing aid for age-related hearing loss.

Publications

LoCHAid: An ultra-low-cost hearing aid for age-related hearing loss.

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