THIRD PARTY HEARING DISABILITY AT PRE- AND POST-HEARING AID PROVISION

Abstract

Impacts of hearing loss on significant others is known as third party hearing disability. The current study examined third party hearing disability at pre and post-hearing aid provision and identify predicting factors of third party hearing disability. Eighty-six hearing impaired individuals in the intervention group were fitted with hearing aids while 100 in the control group did not receive hearing aids. The third party hearing disability of significant others at baseline, three months and six months post-hearing aid fitting were compared. A binary logistic regression was used to examine factors that are associated with third party hearing disability at baseline. Intervention group had significant more reduction in third party hearing disability than control group at three month post-hearing aid provision (p < .001). Five predicting factors of third party hearing disability were identified: hearing loss severity, self-perceived hearing handicap, hearing loss duration, self-reported eye diseases and gender of significant other.