Avaliação subjetiva da expectativa quanto ao uso do aparelho de amplificação sonora individual: correlação com aspectos auditivos, sociais e econômicos

Abstract

Introduction: unrealistic expectations regarding hearing aid performance may lead to difficulties in the fitting process. Clinical evaluations that include probe microphone, functional gain and speech perception measures do not reflect necessarily an adequate intervention. It is important to know what the patient expects of his/her rehabilitation process. Objective: to verify the expectations of hearing aid candidates in a public hospital regarding hearing aid use and compare them to auditory and socio-economic factors. Methods: the Expected Consequences of Hearing Aid Ownership (ECHO) questionnaire was administered to 33 adults with bilateral sensory hearing loss of various degrees. The scores were compared to the normative data of the ECHO questionnaire and were correlated to age, degree of hearing loss and educational and economical status as well. Results: for the majority of the participants, scores close to the maximum were obtained in all ECHO sub-scales. Weak but significant positive correlations coefficients (Spearman) were obtained between degree of hearing loss and the negative impact sub-scale (r=0.47) and global score of the ECHO (r=0.38). Conclusion: the degree of hearing loss may have an important impact on the expectations of hearing aid candidates.