Is social appearance anxiety a reason for rejecting a hearing aid in geriatric patients?

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Hearing impairment is a global health problem due to its impact on quality of life and communication problems between individuals. Hearing aids are the recommended intervention, but use of hearing aids is low. In this study, the effect of social appearance anxiety on the decision to use a hearing aid was investigated. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study comprised 107 individuals aged 65-81 years who were offered hearing aids due to bilateral severe or moderate sensorineural hearing loss. The patients were divided into three groups, according to their hearing aid preferences and usage decisions. Social appearance anxiety scale was applied to all patients. RESULTS: The mean age of the 107 patients included in the study was 70.19±5.35 years. The social appearance anxiety scores of those who did not want to use a hearing aid were much higher than those of whom desired to use a behind-the-ear or in-canal hearing aid. The social appearance anxiety scores of the patients who wanted to use in-canal hearing aids were also higher than the group who wanted to use behind-the-ear hearing aids. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, which focused on the hearing aid candidate group who had never obtained a device, rather than why they stopped using a hearing aid, it was assumed that social appearance concern was relevant in the phase of receiving a hearing aid. © 2023 Verduci Editore s.r.l. All rights reserved.