Rehabilitation with hearing aids for individuals with unilateral hearing loss: a systematic review

Abstract

Objective: To determine, using a systematic review, the auditory rehabilitation results through hearing aids in individuals with Unilateral Hearing Loss (UHL), in terms of speech recognition skills in competitive noise, location of the sound source, satisfaction and usage time of the hearing aid. Methods: The literature review was performed in the databases Cochrane, Lilacs, Medline, Pubmed and Scielo, searching for published studies between 1997 and 2017, with the following descriptors in Portuguese: perda auditiva unilateral e auxiliares de audição; and in English: unilateral hearing loss and hearing aids. The selection criteria of the studies were, sample of individuals presenting UHL, aged at least 18, who had been submitted to results evaluations for speech recognition research recognition in the presence of noise and/or location of the sound source and/or satisfaction and/or usage time of hearing aid, pre and post-adaptation of hearing aid. Results: After the bibliographical survey, six articles were analyzed. Conclusion: There was a shortage of studies aimed at the investigation of the rehabilitation by hearing aids in individuals presenting UHL. Although most studies show benefit and satisfaction with hearing aid adaptation, part of this population does not use it. The adaptation of hearing aids in this population should be encouraged, taking into account the evaluation of the communicative demand of each individual, their participation restriction, the main auditory complaints of this individual before and after adaptation and the programming adjustment of the hearing aid.