2015 Volume 58 Issue 6 Pages 660-665
Fitting of hearing aids is the most important process towards providing hearing improvement for patients with hearing impairment. However, there is as yet no consensus as to how to manage these patients after the initial fitting process. In our department, since the hearing ability is known to change with time, we carry out regular check-ups every 3 months. However, since there are almost no previous studies investigating the benefits of such periodical check-ups, some patients are not eager to keep their appointments. This study was aimed at examining whether periodical check-ups and long-term management of hearing aids are beneficial, in terms of improving the hearing ability, to the patients. We carried out hearing level tests and speech audiometry after the initial fitting, and compared the results with those obtained after regular, long-term check-ups (average interval, 3 years and 2 months). To focus on the influence of hearing aid management, we limited the subjects to those with moderate hearing loss, whose hearing ability changed little throughout the study.
The results revealed that the average hearing thresholds decreased from 34±5dBHL to 30±6dBHL (p<0.001) and speech audiometry results improved from 90±10% to 92±8%(p<0.01). Thus, we think that it is important to continue check-ups and management even after the initial fitting.
