Differences Between Older Adults Who Do and Do Not Try Hearing Aids and Between Those Who Keep and Return the Devices

Abstract

The focus of this study was on the differences between older adults who complied with a clinical recommendation for hearing-aid acquisition (adherents; N = 105) and those who did not (nonadherents; N = 34) among a group of research volunteers from the community. All participants were first-time hearing-aid users. Differences between adherents and nonadherents were examined across several domains, including demographic variables, audiometric measures, measures of affect and personality, cognitive variables, hearing-aid expectations, and the perceived hearing difficulties of the older adults and their adjustments to those difficulties. It was found that the adherents differed significantly (p