Communication can be difficult for those with hearing loss, making it hard to socialize and build relationships. Wearing hearing aids can help with this problem, as they can be adjusted to filter out background noise and focus on speech. Additionally, they can keep you safe by helping you to hear warning sounds and signs. Hearing aids are also related to balance, which can help prevent falls in older people.
Research shows that hearing aids can do much more than just help you hear; they can also make you healthier. However, many people who receive a hearing aid do not use it. The objective is to collect available evidence on the possible reasons for the non-use of hearing aids among people who have been fitted with at least one. Data were collected using a scoping study, which identified 10 articles that reported the reasons why they were not used.
The most important issues related to the value of hearing aids were the hearing aid not providing sufficient benefits and comfort related to its use. In the 1980s, a follow-up study of 150 people who had a hearing aid installed in Finland found that 23% reported that they had never used the hearing aid two years after putting it on. The reasons given included problems with handling the hearing aid and few opportunities to talk to others. Brooks (198) also found that the reasons given for not wearing hearing aids included difficulty inserting the ear mold, difficulty coping with noise signals, lack of recognition of hearing loss, old age and poor health, and a non-ideal adaptation of the hearing aid to hearing loss.
Digital hearing aids now offer a number of advantages over analog hearing aids, including increased comfort, digital feedback reduction, digital noise reduction, improved digital speech, automatic switching of listening programs, directional microphones and remote controls, as well as a smaller size and open fit design. The benefits of digital hearing aids also include improved sound quality, multiple listening programs for different listening environments, support for remote control options, and flexibility in frequency, compression and gain manipulation (Davis, 200). Despite improvements in hearing aids, usage remains low and under-use of hearing aids among older adults remains a major concern. The use of hearing aids has been found to improve quality of life problems, specifically to improve communication in relationships; intimacy and warmth in family relationships; emotional stability; sense of control over life events; perception of mental functioning and physical health (Kochkin, 201).
If a patient does not use their hearing aids, it could affect their quality of life and that of others around them, and it could also increase their risk of depression and anxiety (Gopinath et al., 200). In order to design appropriate rehabilitation strategies to ensure greater use of hearing aids, factors affecting the use of hearing aids need to be identified. Most of the literature on the reasons for not wearing hearing aids was published before the introduction of digital hearing aids in the UK's NHS. Since digital hearing aids were designed to offer practical and clinical advantages over analog hearing aids, it might be reasonable to expect an increase in the number of people using them during this period.
The reasons are not clear as to why some people who need hearing aids and who own them do not use them. Therefore, it is necessary to review the literature of the last decade to examine the reasons why hearing aids are not used. We could also expect a difference in the reasons for non-use between gender and age.Hearing aids can improve society by helping those with hearing loss communicate more easily with others. They can also keep them safe by helping them hear warning sounds and signs.
Additionally, they can help prevent falls in older people by improving balance. Finally, research shows that wearing a hearing aid can improve quality of life problems such as communication in relationships; intimacy and warmth in family relationships; emotional stability; sense of control over life events; perception of mental functioning and physical health.
