Assessing Benefit of Hearing Aid Using Shortened Hearing Aid Performance Inventory

Abstract

The ultimate goal of aural rehabilitation plan is successful use of amplification device in everyday communication. Insufficient quantitative information is present about the benefits of hearing aids in Pakistan. Objective: To fill this gap and gather quantitative data regarding benefit derive from hearing aids. Hence current study assessed hearing aid benefit using shortened hearing aid performance inventory, while comparing it with different parameters of hearing aid use and demographics like gender. Methods: This Cross-Sectional study was conducted at Isra Institute of Rehabilitation Sciences, Isra University, Pakistan from December 2020 to May 2021. Study recruited a sample of N=377 hearing aid users, of both genders, aged 18 to 60 years, who were using hearing aids for at least 2 months, utilizing non-probability, convenient sampling. Patient’s pure tone audiogram and shortened hearing aid performance inventory (SHAPI) was used for data collection. SPSS version-20.0 was used for data collection. T-test and Anova statistics used for data analysis with p<0.05 considered significant. Results:  Out of 370 individuals’ majority (71.6%) were males with mean age of 44.63 ± 12.99 years. Mean SHAPI score was 2.24 ± 0.68. There was significant association with duration of hearing aid use, hearing aid technology, hearing aid fitting and gender of participants. Conclusions: Current study revealed a low SHAPI mean score indicating benefit and satisfaction in different listening situations among hearing aid users. Benefit derived from hearing aid is significantly affected by factors like gender, hearing aid fitting, hearing aid technology and duration of hearing aid use.