Effectiveness of an Affordable Hearing Aid With Elderly Persons
By McPherson, B.; Wong, E.T.L.; Disability and Rehabilitation, Vol. 27, No. 11, pp. 601-609Publication Date: June 2005
Study conducted to evaluate the ReSound Advance HE4 hearing aid with people who are older with mild to moderate sensorineural hearing loss in China. The ReSound Advanced HE4 was chosen because it was low in cost and designed specifically for the study’s target population. The device was utilized by 19 older people over a 3-month period. Three questionnaires were used to determine changes in the participants’ aided hearing measures and the self-reported performance and benefit yielded by use of the device: (1) the Client-Oriented Scale of Improvement, (2) the International Outcome Inventory for Hearing Aids, and (3) the Profile of Hearing Aid Performance – Chinese Version. The participants also participated in open-ended interviews. Results indicated that the ReSound Advance HE4 was able to provide adequate amplification for the participants. The researchers contend that affordable, over-the-counter hearing aids can provide an opportunity for greater numbers of people with hearing loss to benefit from improved communicative abilities. Implications for further research are discussed.
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Limited (Website:http://taylorandfrancis.org)
International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (Web Site: http://www.isprm.org )
This publication is included in the library of the National Rehabilitation Information Center (NARIC), accession number J49269
