Open AccessElectroacoustic/Clinical Study of Inexpensive Hearing Aid
Author(s) -
Babu Seilesh
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
otolaryngology–head and neck surgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.232
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1097-6817
pISSN - 0194-5998
DOI - 10.1177/0194599812451426a31
Subject(s) - hearing aid , audiology , hearing loss , medicine , cost analysis , engineering , reliability engineering
Objective 1) Understand whether a new low‐cost (<$200) hearing aid has adequate technical specifications. 2) Learn if patients with mild to moderately severe hearing loss report satisfaction scores comparable to those reported in the literature while using this hearing aid. Method An analysis of the hearing aid was performed evaluating critical electroacoustic parameters. A prospective study was performed on 9 patients from August 2010 to July 2011 who wore the device for 30 days and completed 2 surveys: “International Outcome Inventory–Hearing Aids” and “Satisfaction with Amplification in Daily Living.” Results The hearing aid met gain and output targets previously described in the literature. All 9 participants completed the study. The device met the range of norms for all 7 items in the IOI‐HA ( P <. 05) and for 3 of the 5 categories of SADL. Conclusion The low‐cost hearing aid was found to be electroacoustically adequate and a reasonable low‐cost solution to meet the needs of those value‐ and cost‐conscious patients with up to moderately severe hearing loss who were not using amplification via a custom hearing device due to cost considerations.