An Audit of Hearing Rehabilitation within the Health Service–Past and Present

Abstract

The present contribution can be considered as an audit of the hearing aid rehabilitation programme as performed in Copenhagen, based on an ongoing quality assurance. A comparative analysis was performed in outcome measures between two 3-month periods in which the only change had been a transfer of the preliminary instruction in manipulation and management of hearing aid (HA) from the educational to the health sector. The data analysis was based on a questionnaire including three samples (sample A, n = 800 evaluated before the change; sample B,n = 779 after the change; and sample C, n = 73 with no change, acting as a reference). The comparison demonstrated no significant differences in the ability to manage or manipulate HA between samples A and B, and no changes were found in the reference sample, C. A significant decrease in the frequency of hearing-impaired subjects needing additional appointments in the health sector was found in sample B. Those subjects who at the HA fitting had made no request for additional educational services demonstrated a significantly higher frequency of 97% capability to manage HA at the follow-up in comparison to only 84% among those who had requested services compatible with the distribution of experienced/unexperienced HA users. The additional data analyses render no support for any effect of the educational services on the ability to manipulate and manage HA.