EVALUATION OF PATIENTS SATISFACTION WITH HEARING AIDS

¹İstanbul Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi, Kulak Burun Boğaz Kliniği, İstanbul, Türkiye
²İstanbul Üniversitesi Cerrahpaşa Tıp Fakültesi, Odyoloji Bölümü, İstanbul, Türkiye
³Kartal Eğitim Araştırma Hastanesi, Kulak Burun Boğaz Kliniği, İstanbul, Türkiye
⁴Kafkas Üniversitesi, Kulak Burun Boğaz, Kars, Türkiye Hearing loss is associated with low quality of life, depressive symptoms and decreased functional capacity. The aim of this study was to determine the use of hearing aid devices and the satisfaction rates, and to determine the factors that affect these rates. The patients with hearing loss who admitted to the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Istanbul Training and Research Hospital between February and April 2011 were included to the study. Appropriate digital behind the ear hearing aids were recommended to the patients according to the level of their hearing loss. Six months after they started using the instrument, we reached by telephone to the patients, and the IOI-HA-TR test (The International Outcome Inventory for Hearing Aids Turkish edition) administered by the same doctor. Seventy percent of cases had moderate, 22.0% had severe, 6.0% had profound and 2.0% had mild degree of sensorineural hearing loss. Eighty patients used the device more than four hours a day, 64% experienced significant benefits from the hearing aid, and in 67% of the cases the symptoms either disappeared or minimized when compared to prefitting period. In 77% of cases, the work performance was either not effected or had minimal effects due to the hearing loss after the use of the devices. The level of satisfaction with hearing aid was statistically positively correlated with the level of education. Patient satisfaction is recognized as an important criterion for each stage of hearing aid after the implementation of it. In our study, even though the study group was not homogenous, usage and satisfaction levels were detected as higher than expected in the patients using the hearing aid. Keywords : Hearing Aid, Satisfaction, Quality of Life