Abstract
Objective: Hearing loss affects daily communication far beyond reduced audibility. It may impair social participation, family interactions, workplace performance, emotional well-being, and perceived quality of life. This retrospective study evaluated whether hearing aid use was associated with measurable improvements in interpersonal communication and related patient-centered outcomes.
Methods: Records of 72 adult hearing aid users were retrospectively analyzed. Age, sex, hearing loss type, hearing loss severity, duration of hearing loss, duration of hearing aid use, pre- and post-fitting communication scores, social interaction, family communication, workplace communication, quality-of-life score, and patient satisfaction were recorded. Normality of paired differences was assessed with the Shapiro-Wilk test. Paired variables that were normally distributed were analyzed with paired-samples t-tests, whereas those that were not normally distributed were analyzed with Wilcoxon signed-rank tests.
Results: The cohort comprised 37 male and 35 female patients, with a mean age of 64.3 ± 11.3 years. The mean duration of hearing loss was 8.7 ± 5.3 years, and the mean duration of hearing aid use was 19.3 ± 9.8 months. Significant post-fitting improvements were observed in global communication score, social interaction, family communication, workplace communication, and quality of life. The mean communication score increased from 44.21 ± 9.08 to 76.79 ± 11.26 (p<0.001), and the quality-of-life score increased from 49.75 ± 8.97 to 78.72 ± 8.26 (p<0.001). The mean patient satisfaction score was 8.0 ± 1.5 on a 0-10 scale.
Conclusion: Hearing aid use was associated with statistically and clinically meaningful improvements in interpersonal communication, social interaction, family communication, workplace communication, and quality of life. These findings support the view that hearing aid rehabilitation should be evaluated not only as auditory amplification but also as a social-participation and communication-restorative intervention.