Hearing interventions barely modify HRQoL among older adults with hearing loss

Among older adults with hearing loss, provision of hearing aids and other interventions do not appear to significantly improve health-related quality of life (HRQoL) outcomes over 3 years of follow-up, as reported in a study.

For the study, researchers conducted a secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial, which involved participants who were between 70 and 84 years of age, had untreated hearing loss, and had no substantial cognitive impairment. These participants had been randomly assigned to undergo a hearing intervention (provision of hearing aids and related technologies, counselling, education) or receive health education only. The participants were followed up every 6 months for 3 years.

The 3-year change in the RAND-36 physical and mental health component scores over 3 years was evaluated, as were the eight individual domains of HRQoL. These outcomes were measured at baseline and at the 6-month, 1-year, 2-year, and 3-year follow-ups.

The analysis included 977 participants (mean age 76.8 years, 53.5 percent female, 87.8 percent White, 53.4 percent had a Bachelor’s degree or higher), of which 490 were in the hearing intervention group and 487 were in the control group.

Compared with health education control, hearing intervention showed no significant association with physical HRQoL (−0.49 vs −0.92; difference, 0.43, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], −0.64 to 1.51) or mental HRQoL (0.38 vs −0.09; difference, 0.47, 95 percent CI, −0.41 to 1.35).

The findings suggest that additional intervention strategies may be needed to improve HRQoL among older adults with hearing loss.