Hearing aids improve quality of life for people with hearing loss
Surveys made in Europe, the US and in Japan document that hearing aids increase the quality of life.
In Europe the EuroTrak surveys found that 82% of the hearing aids users say that their hearing aids increase their quality of life regularly or occasionally. The surveys were made in 2015-2016 in Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Poland, The Netherlands, Switzerland and Denmark.
In the US the MarkeTrak 9 survey made in 2014 found that 88% of the hearing aid users said that their hearing aids improved their quality of life either regularly or occasionally.
In Japan the JapanTrak survey in 2015 found that 85% of the hearing aid users said that their hearing aids regularly or occasionally improved their quality of life.
Most significant impacts
The surveys in Europe and Japan also found that especially communication effectiveness, social life, participating in group activities and relations at home improved with the use of hearing aids. But the use of hearing aids also had a positive impact on other areas such as mental and physical health and sense of safety.
Scientific study
The scientific study “Quality of life after intervention with a Cochlear implant or hearing aid” published in the Laryngoscope in 2016 also has found that treatment of hearing loss with hearing aids or cochlear implants results in a significant increase in mental health quality of life. In the study a significant increase in “Mental Component Summary” score was observed in both hearing aid and cochlear implant users.
Earlier research support findings
Earlier the scientific report “Evaluation of the social and economic costs of hearing impairment” published in 2006 by hear-it AISBL documented that hearing aids improve overall quality of life for most hearing aid users. The report collected and presented the results of studies of almost all scientific research made in Europe, The United States and Australia on the social and economic impacts of hearing loss.
Sources: EHIMA, Better Hearing Institute, the Laryngoscope and hear-it AISBL