Analysis of informative material stored in DVD in the hearing aid adaptation of elderly users

Purpose

To verify the effectiveness of the DVD “Knowing and Learning about my Hearing Aid” as a tool in the hearing aid (HA) adaptation process in the elderly.

Methods

A total of 27 individuals, divided in two groups, participated in this study: a control group, which received the audiological guidance and the technical instruction manual accompanying the adapted behind-the-ear hearing aids; and an experimental group, which received the same guidance as the control group, plus the DVD. The effectiveness of the DVD was measured through a specific tool that evaluates the skills to manipulate the HA, the Practical Hearing Aid Skills Test, using descriptive statistics analysis and the non-parametric Mann-Whitney test.

Results

The experimental group obtained a better performance in the tasks of cleaning the hearing aid and the earmold, manipulating the volume control, handling the telecoil and correctly placing the phone in the ear. No difference was found between the performances of the control group and the experimental group in the Practical Hearing Aid Skills Test. Most of the experimental group affirmed to be very satisfied with the information stored in the DVD.

Conclusion

An improvement trend was observed in the experimental group regarding the understanding of the content about the HA, due to the use of the DVD, and a high level of satisfaction was observed among the participants of this group with the tool, which confirms such material is a tool possible to be used during the HA adaptation process.

Aging; Hearing aids; Telemedicine; Hearing loss; Education, distance