Subjective measures of hearing aid benefit and satisfaction in the NIDCD/VA follow-up study.

Perceived benefit, satisfaction, and hearing aid use patterns were measured in a follow-up study to a large-scale multi-site clinical trial conducted in 1996-97. Measures included the Hearing Aid Status Questionnaire, the Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit, the Glasgow Hearing Aid Benefit Profile, the Satisfaction with Amplification in Daily Life, and the International Outcome Inventory for Hearing Aids. On the Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit, hearing aid users indicated more unaided difficulty in easy listening situations and less aided benefit in more difficult listening situations compared to the original study. Subjects who no longer used hearing aids indicated less difficulty in unaided situations. All measures indicated significant long-term subjective benefit and satisfaction with hearing aids. Although understanding speech in noise or in group situations continues to be problematic, subjects reported wearing their hearing aids almost all of the time in both easy and difficult listening situations.