Universität zu Köln

Meister, Hartmut, Rahlmann, Sebastian, Walger, Martin, Margolf-Hackl, Sabine and Kiessling, Jurgen (2015). Hearing aid fitting in older persons with hearing impairment: the influence of cognitive function, age, and hearing loss on hearing aid benefit. Clin. Interv. Aging, 10. ALBANY: DOVE MEDICAL PRESS LTD. ISSN 1178-1998

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Abstract

Purpose: To examine the association of cognitive function, age, and hearing loss with clinically assessed hearing aid benefit in older hearing-impaired persons. Methods: Hearing aid benefit was assessed using objective measures regarding speech recognition in quiet and noisy environments as well as a subjective measure reflecting everyday situations captured using a standardized questionnaire. A broad range of general cognitive functions such as attention, memory, and intelligence were determined using different neuropsychological tests. Linear regression analyses were conducted with the outcome of the neuropsychological tests as well as age and hearing loss as independent variables and the benefit measures as dependent variables. Thirty experienced older hearing aid users with typical age-related hearing impairment participated. Results: Most of the benefit measures revealed that the participants obtained significant improvement with their hearing aids. Regression models showed a significant relationship between a fluid intelligence measure and objective hearing aid benefit. When individual hearing thresholds were considered as an additional independent variable, hearing loss was the only significant contributor to the benefit models. Lower cognitive capacity - as determined by the fluid intelligence measure - was significantly associated with greater hearing loss. Subjective benefit could not be predicted by any of the variables considered. Conclusion: The present study does not give evidence that hearing aid benefit is critically associated with cognitive function in experienced hearing aid users. However, it was found that lower fluid intelligence scores were related to higher hearing thresholds. Since greater hearing loss was associated with a greater objective benefit, these results strongly support the advice of using hearing aids regardless of age and cognitive function to counter hearing loss and the adverse effects of age-related hearing impairment. Still, individual cognitive capacity might be relevant for hearing aid benefit during an initial phase of hearing aid provision if acclimatization has not yet taken place.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Meister, Hartmut UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Rahlmann, Sebastian UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Walger, Martin UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Margolf-Hackl, Sabine UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Kiessling, Jurgen UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-417383
DOI:	10.2147/CIA.S77096
Journal or Publication Title:	Clin. Interv. Aging
Volume:	10
Date:	2015
Publisher:	DOVE MEDICAL PRESS LTD
Place of Publication:	ALBANY
ISSN:	1178-1998
Language:	English
Faculty:	Unspecified
Divisions:	Unspecified
Subjects:	no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language INTERNATIONAL OUTCOME INVENTORY; WORKING-MEMORY; HELP-SEEKING; PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES; IOI-HA; SPEECH; NOISE; COMPRESSION; PREVALENCE; ADULTS Multiple languages Geriatrics & Gerontology Multiple languages
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/41738