Abstract
It is sometimes difficult to fit hearing aids (HA) in children with mild-to-moderate hearing impairment sufficiently early in life, and one of the reasons is the economic problem. A unique subsidy system for purchase of HA was started in Mie prefecture in 2006 for infants with mild-to-moderate hearing impairment. We examined the data of 100 children who were newly fitted with HA at the Mie Child Guidance Center over five years.
Thirty-six of the 59 children with mild-to-moderate hearing impairment purchased HA through using this subsidy (“subsidy group”). The remaining 23 of the 59 children could not use the subsidy system because of the limitation of age, hearing level, or income restriction (“non-subsidy group”). The 41 patients with severe hearing impairment were supplied with HA as mandated by the National law (“National-support group”). The ages at diagnosis and at obtaining the HA were significantly lower in the subsidy group and National-support group than in the non-subsidy group. The interval from diagnosis to being fitted with HA was significantly longer in the subsidy group than in the National-support group. This result suggests that it takes time for the family to accept hearing loss in an infant and that the financial burden is still greater in the subsidy group.
In the subsidy group, HA were used appropriately. Deregulation of the system with increase of the subsidy is required.
