Personality type and perceived hearing aid benefit revisited

Abstract

Last year in this journal, Barry and McCarthy reported the results of an experiment they conducted to test the hypothesis that personality type influences an individual's perception of hearing aid benefit.1 Sixteen male veterans between 60 and 75 years of age (mean = 68.9) served as subjects. Each had successfully worn binaural hearing aids for a period of at least 1 year. The authors used the Keirsy Four Types Sorter2 to assign individuals to one of four basic personality types, and the Ease of Communication subscale of the Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit (APHAB)3 to evaluate perceived hearing aid benefit. Barry and McCarthy found a strong, negative correlation (Spearman coefficient4 of −0.935) between the Idealist personality type and perceived hearing aid benefit. The result was significant at the 0.001 level of confidence. The investigators concluded that one possible interpretation of this outcome was that individuals who scored high in Idealist personality type might harbor unrealistically high expectations for hearing aid use. The authors suggested that this finding might hold important implications for the advisability of taking personality type into account in the development of individualized plans of audiologic rehabilitation. Individuals classified as Idealists, for example, might benefit from counseling designed to inculcate realistic expectations regarding the benefits vs. limitations of hearing aid use. The investigators recommended follow-up research using samples characterized by a broader range of ages and by both genders using the complete APHAB. The present study partially addresses that goal. METHOD Subjects were 40 male veterans ranging in age from 45 to 75 years (mean = 64.97). Each had successfully worn binaural hearing aids for a minimum of 1 year. All were volunteers who gave informed consent. As in the Barry and McCarthy study, the personality type of each individual was assessed with the Keirsey Four Types Sorter. However, in the current study, perceived hearing aid benefit was assessed with the complete APHAB rather than with a single subscale. RESULTS Of the 40 subjects, 2 were classified as Artisan, 2 as Idealist, 22 as Guardian, and 14 as Rational. Accounting for only 5% of the sample, Artisans were underrepresented with respect to Keirsey's estimate that they comprise 35% to 40% of the U.S. population, but the 5% figure was in close agreement with the 6% encountered by Barry and McCarthy. These authors speculated that the underrepresentation of Artisans observed in their study might have occurred because military life does not generally attract the basically hedonistic, light-hearted, fun-loving Artisan personality type that Keirsey described. The 5% of subjects classified as Idealists was in good agreement with Keirsey's estimate of 5% to 10% in the general U.S. population as well as with the incidence reported by Barry and McCarthy. The representation of the other two personality types, Guardian and Rational, was in general accord with Keirsey's estimates. In this study, we made four statistical comparisons. We compared the data from each of the four Keirsey personality types with the results obtained by the same individuals on the APHAB. We computed Spearman rank correlations and then determined the statistical significance of the value of the t score associated with each outcome. The results are summarized in Table 1.Table 1: Spearman rank correlation coefficients and the associated statistical significance based upon comparisons between each of four personality types as evaluated by the Keirsey Four-Types Sorter with regard to the results obtained on the Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit (APHAB).DISCUSSION Just as Barry and McCarthy showed a statistically significant negative correlation between the Idealist personality type and the Ease of Communication subscale of the APHAB, our study showed a similar negative correlation between the Idealist type and the complete APHAB. The correlation observed between the Artisan personality type and the APHAB results was also statistically significant. The correlations between the Guardian and Rational personality types and the APHAB data were statistically non-significant, echoing a similar finding between these personality types and the Ease of Communication subscale of the APHAB as reported by Barry and McCarthy. Keirsey described Idealists as being credulous, i.e., believing in things easily and without reservation. Others have characterized them as accepting, optimistic, and trusting. On the negative side, Keirsey reported that Idealists are prone to making intuitive leaps, are easily annoyed, and are quick to show their displeasure. Artisans are described as supreme optimists and always on the lookout for workable compromises. One may speculate as to how these personality traits might have influenced the outcomes of our study. Typical Idealists might have trustingly accepted the idea of hearing aid use, made an inductive leap leading to excessively optimistic expectations, and become irascible when confronted with reality. This could account for the negative association observed between the variables. On the other hand, the positive, but pragmatic, attitude of the Artisans might reasonably explain the positive association observed between this personality type and scores on the APHAB. CONCLUSION The results of the study support the hypothesis that personality type can influence the perception of benefit derived from hearing aid use. The findings raise questions about the need for appropriate counseling to inculcate realistic expectations regarding the benefits vs. limitations of hearing aid use and whether or not such counseling might prove to be of benefit to hearing aid candidates in general or to individuals representing the Idealist personality type in particular. Further research among groups differing in age and of both genders is indicated.