The Impact of Hearing Aids on Quality of Life of Hearing Impaired Individuals: Impact of hearing aids on QoL

Fatima  Zafar; Hafiz Muhammad  Usama Basheer

doi:10.52229/pbmj.v3i2.13

Authors

Fatima Zafar Department of Health Professional Technologies, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, The University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan
Hafiz Muhammad Usama Basheer Department of Health Professional Technologies, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, The University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.52229/pbmj.v3i2.13

Abstract

The regular use of hearing aids (more than 8 hours a day) benefits people in hearing for better communication than those who are less-likely to use hearing aids Objective: The objective of the study was to assess the impact of hearing aids on the quality of life of hearing impaired individuals Methods: In this cross-sectional study total 50 participants were recruited by convenient sampling technique from Lahore, Pakistan. 50 patients who were diagnosed with hearing loss and were recommended with hearing aids of both genders were included in the study.The International Outcome Inventory for Hearing Aids (IOI-HA), questionnaire was used for data collection. Data were analyzed through Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23.0 Results:In this research 50 hearing impaired individuals who were hearing aid users, participated. The mean age of participants was 64.10+15.88 years. Among which 25 (50%) were males and 25(50%) were females. The average time of hearing aid use was 3.88 hours, majority of patients responded that hearing aid helped quite a lot in the daily routine (mean score of IOI-HA,3.62), have moderate difficulty in residual activity (mean score of IOI-HA,3.26), moderately satisfied with their hearing aid (mean score of IOI-HA,3.28), moderately affect the participation restriction (mean score of IOI-HA,3.20), impact of their hearing loss bothered moderately (mean score of IOI-HA,3.14) and quality of life (QOL) was very much better (3.90). There was insignificant association between the QOL of males and females (p-value>0.05) Conclusions: It was concluded from the study that the hearing aids have a greater impact on the quality of life and socio-economic aspects of hearing impaired individuals. Hearing loss is such a problem, which separates certain community of hearing impaired individuals from the normal population. Individuals with hearing impairment not only have to face personal communication problems but also it affects their health, independency and quality of life in their daily routine.

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