Manual dexterity and successful hearing aid use.

Fine dexterity of the hand might be expected to correlate with the successful use of a hearing aid. In this study, the manual dexterity of 30 individuals between 65 and 85 years using a hearing aid was tested by the Purdue pegboard test and the result was compared to the benefit obtained from the use of a hearing aid assessed by a questionnaire. Of the 30 individuals included in this study 16 were wearing a 'behind the ear' type of hearing aid and the rest had an 'in the ear' type of hearing aid. A comparison is made between the two types of heariing aids. The results demonstrate a correlation between manual dexterity and successful use of a hearing aid when all the 30 individuals were considered as a single group. However, no such correlation was found for 'in the ear' group when they were analysed separately.