Differences between self- and family assessment of hearing

Abstract

Self-assessment of the hearing ability does not always correspond to that estimated by others. In this study, the differences between self- and family assessment of hearing were investigated in the hearing impaired seeking a hearing aid. A questionnaire survey to assess hearing in everyday life and evaluation of total hearing using a visual analog scale (VAS) method were employed. The results of both the questionnaire survey and VAS evaluation revealed that self-assessment of hearing was better than the family assessment. Significant differences were found for one-on-one conversation at a quiet place by both the questionnaire survey and VAS evaluation. When the subjects were classified according to age, self-assessment by VAS evaluation in the group of patients in their 50's alone was worse than that of the family's assessment. With regard to VAS evaluation, it was thought that the family's assessment might be more objective than self-assessment. On the other hand, in regard to conversation over the telephone, our results showed that the reliability of self assessment was superior to that of the family's assessment.