Abstract
Objective: To explore the publicised opinions of consumers actively participating in online hearing aid reviews. Design: A retrospective design examining data generated from an online consumer review website (www.HearingTracker.com). Qualitative data (open text responses) were analysed using the open source automated topic modelling software IRaMuTeQ (http://www.iramuteq.org/) to identify themes. Outputs were compared with quantitative data from the consumer reviews (short response questions exploring hearing aid performance and benefit, and some meta-data such as hearing aid brand and years of hearing aid ownership). Study sample: 1378 online consumer hearing aid reviews. Results: Six clusters within two domains were identified. The domain Device Acquisition included three clusters: Finding the right provider, device and price-point; Selecting a hearing aid to suit the hearing loss; Attaining physical fit and device management skills. The domain Device Use included three clusters: Smartphone streaming to hearing aids; Hearing aid adjustment using smartphone; and Hearing in noise. Conclusions: Although online hearing aid consumers indicate positive performance on multiple-choice questions relating to hearing aid performance and benefit, their online reviews describe a number of barriers limiting their success. Hearing healthcare clinicians must employ a personalised approach to audiological rehabilitation to ensure individual clients’ needs are met.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 917-926 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | International Journal of Audiology |
Volume | 60 |
Issue number | 11 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2021 |