Examining the Impact of Physician Influence on Hearing Aid User Satisfaction and Retention

Summary

Most of us will experience some degree of hearing loss as we get older. It can affect one or both ears and without treatment causes difficulty with following conversations in the home or workplace. Audiologists are trained to diagnose and treat hearing loss and tinnitus problems. They also dispense, and fit hearing aids. Physicians do not provide or fit hearing aids directly, however they diagnose hearing loss and can recommend hearing aids amongst other treatments for hearing loss. It is undecided whether consulting with a physician in addition to an audiologist will improve user's satisfaction with hearing aids, compared to consulting with an audiologist alone.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether physician involvement (in addition to an audiologist) in the hearing aid fitting process improves users' satisfaction with hearing aids. The study utilizes questionnaires to assess satisfaction with hearing aids. Furthermore, participants decision to keep the purchased hearing aids will be recorded.

The study will take place in the clinics of family doctors, Otolaryngology (Ear) surgeons and audiologists. A hearing aid suitable for the needs of the participant will be fitted by an audiologist. In the first 21days after the fitting, participants will attend follow-up visits with the audiologists for adjustments to the hearing aids to best meet their specific listening needs. After 21 days, eligible participants will be allocated to either the Control or Test groups. Participants in both groups will be asked to describe the change in their hearing performance related to the use of hearing aids to their audiologist(Control) or Physician (Test) at a follow-up visit. At the study's final visit, participants will be asked to complete a satisfaction-based questionnaire.

The time taken to fit a hearing aid varies depending on the individual needs of the patient. It is estimated that at most 10 visits will be required over 90 days to complete the hearing aid fitting and study processes. These visits will be of 30 minutes duration on average, except for the initial and final visits which lasts for 45 minutes. A patient will spend a maximum of 330 minutes to complete the hearing aid fitting process, but only 25 minutes of this time will be specifically related to the study.

The study is intended to determine the satisfaction with hearing aids and consultations with health professionals.

Conditions

• Hearing Loss

Interventions

OTHER

Fitting Audiologist completion

Phase II of the COSI (Client Oriented Scale of Improvement) questionnaire completed in a scheduled visit with the fitting Audiologist

OTHER

Participant's Physician completion

Phase II of the COSI (Client Oriented Scale of Improvement) questionnaire completed in a scheduled visit with the Participant's Physician

Sponsors & Collaborators

• NexGen Hearing Inc.

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• University of British Columbia

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Desmond Nunez, MD · University of British Columbia

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

55 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2016-07-31

Primary Completion

2021-12-31

Completion

2021-12-31

Countries

• Canada

Study Locations