Around 20% of adults who have been given hearing aids don’t use them, according to research led by the University of Manchester.
The analysis of National Survey for Wales data – the largest sample of hearing aid use in the UK – revealed that a fifth of adults don’t wear their hearing aids at all, nearly a third use them “some of the time” and the remaining half use them “most of the time”.
Professor Kevin Munro, co-author of the study, said: “[Hearing loss] has a well-known association with cognitive decline and dementia, and as hearing aids are the primary treatment, they can have a huge benefit to wearers.
“The NHS is the largest purchaser of hearing aids in the world so knowing that they are valued by many is great, but there is substantial room for improvement.
“This study was carried out in Wales, but as it’s such a reliable data set there’s no reason to believe the situation is much different in the rest of the UK,” he said.
Professor Munro went on to add that reasons for individuals not using their hearing aids range from “lack of perceived benefit” to “handling difficulties”, and that getting used to the device from a young age will make it easier when someone is older “as it becomes second nature”.
Despite the reported statistic, the figure for people who never wear their hearing aids has been gradually decreasing over the 15 years that the survey has taken place.
Meanwhile, the number of individuals who say that they use their hearing aids “most of the time” has seen an increase.
Professor Harvey Dillon, lead author of the study, said: “It’s imperative that more research is done to understand why non-use can set in so quickly for some, and devise efficient procedures to prevent this from happening.”
Commenting on the findings on Twitter, Action on Hearing Loss joined the call for additional research, saying they know there is a need for “more prompt and proactive follow-up and monitoring” once an NHS hearing aid has been prescribed and fitted.
The study has been published in the International Journal of Audiology.
By Liam O’Dell. Liam is a mildly deaf freelance journalist and blogger from Bedfordshire. He wears bilateral hearing aids and can be found talking about disability, theatre, politics and more on Twitter and on his website.
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Hartmut Teuber
June 14, 2020
It should have already been obvious that most will cease to use HAs. Haven’t they heard of stories about children intentionally losing, throwing their aids, or flushing them down the toilets? In schools, they often just turn them off.
The authors show their morbid obsession with hearing. Sheer audism! If you can hear and understand speech, then good. If you wear it to hear two-dimensional images of music (not the three-dimensional body of music as the componist intents to convey; see Plato’s Parable of the Cave). Also good. These two are the only acceptable criteria. Anything else is a waste of health insurance money.
“[…] reasons for individuals not using their hearing aids range from “lack of perceived benefit” to “handling difficulties”, and that getting used to the device from a young age will make it easier when someone is older “as it becomes second nature”.”
Do they think those are the principal reasons for discarding HAs? Oh, come on! Idiots!
Deafies do KNOW their benefits from long time use! They DON’T have handling difficulties! Why could they have them from years long weraing HAs?! No lack of knowledge! No handling difficulties! Most have them since young childhood! Still no second nature for them! Why must they be prevented from stopping to wear them?!
Silence DOES have its beauty. Many flees to silence from the noisy world, and maddening noise pollution. So these HA wearers found serenity and freedom from the fetters of audism.