An Approach to Self-Assessed Auditory Wellness in Older Adults

Editor’s Note: The following article is based on the 2020 American Auditory Society Carhart Memorial Lecture and is categorized as a “Point of View” article. As originally described (Jerger 2000): “Our second type of new publication, the Point of View article, is a publication with a slant or opinion. This type of article should have a fresh point of view, a clear logic to its propositions, and a clarity of presentation. The article must have a well-reasoned point of view, but the view does not have to be balanced. Our long-term goal for the Point of View article is to stimulate the field’s interest in and to enhance the appreciation of the author’s area of expertise.” In 2008, under Amy Donahue’s leadership, the National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) convened the Working Group on Accessibility and Affordability of Hearing Healthcare. A summary of that group’s deliberations and recommendations appeared in this journal a decade ago (Donahue et al. 2010). The purpose of the working group was to address a long-standing problem: most adults with mild-to-moderate hearing loss who could potentially benefit from hearing aids were not obtaining them. Before the meeting of the NIDCD Working Group, both industry surveys and epidemiological studies had documented that only about 15 to 30% of adults with mild-to-moderate hearing loss were obtaining hearing aids (Sangster et al. 1991; Kochkin 1993a,b,c; Ward et al. 1993; Popelka et al. 1998; Kochkin 2000; Smeeth et al. 2002; Dalton et al. 2003; Chia et al. 2007; Kochkin 2009) and this has remained the case since (Wilson et al. 2010; Chien Dawes et al. 2014; Bisgaard et al. of and its consequences may the adult to hearing loss is not and following is and for hearing healthcare, including the of OTC hearing aids, are envisioned as important in the of adults to manage their own to self-assessment for as as for the of is for the of a preventative Moreover, the of must not be to the of devices alone but should recommendations for other as (e.g., et al. the group of adults with documented mild-to-moderate hearing loss is the of (e.g., et al. 2010; Lin et al. not in the OTC Hearing Aid it can be that it was with this group in this was the in leading to the of the Act (PCAST 2016). this in are there that can be used to the adult in and that have perceived hearing difficulties that of an OTC hearing In the that it is that the Hearing for the the or Chia et al. with a to the to the hearing aids. it is that in the from hearing aids had the these on the of hearing in the that it was a who Clearly, of in the to the for it is the was by perceived difficulties or driven by other The of hearing among the is also but to be that of the In to these as in the is Furthermore, for the in only of the adults were in their were should be in to the The the of as by the group in the of The in the the and for the were for of the in was not to to the for the for these and were not as a The are as a function of et al. in the of the to to to to to to to to to and to hearing There to be an of perceived as by the with the of the hearing loss in both and as the in the of there is a of perceived hearing difficulties for a the used to the in the example, the case of the the for the most individuals with a of have of to many with that have from to As in the of the the and the for the was is to the of with of these can only about of the in of as of the is and of the is by The and for this was and the was with as a both are alone can only for to to or to of the in the that the the impact of but is also other of the perceived hearing difficulties not to hearing The for the by and et al. the The the as the but as a with in the The the of individuals with Hearing for the and in were used to of in these of The the of perceived hearing difficulties in the general of adults of and The on the other the of for who are to have that their difficulties were to seek help at the In the of the of the from to are for the a of from to the a with of the individuals or no perceived difficulties from to The the of individuals the and the who had of the The of for which the not from based on of the example, for an of the and in the from other in a Group The the from the in the the and or the and Hearing for the of the and in the of that the This in of the described about the in perceived hearing difficulties the and many in the perceived no hearing most in the hearing difficulties as by the of were used to the for a to the for other from to this of of with are by in the of and in the of with for both the of example, the for the of from other and this the group the for the of in the from other and the second of the for the of and not from by but from other and of is by by to the the for of and not from but from other were via the of the as in the of from the of for the in the of were in of the from the or the The in the of these in an adult who an of Clearly, it is that this from the general who hearing The also that individuals with a of are of with other the other the in the it is much that a of or on the is from a of to have help at the In as in the with are of with on the in the and the of in the of of were and or no hearing of or and in of the and of these with other with hearing of or and in of the and with other of to with for the and and with of to and in of the and with and from to and in of the and of these with other the of was driven by of the of in the and of the of the of was example, the of would at both of the with as many as the and the other could that there is among the and that only broad of from is for evaluate the of the from the and were a of the to 15 were but the as the and it was a based on the Finally, there was to the of the example, to the of or for an of the to or to of to the are for this to the of the and or This from no to at or 30% was a for to be the from to 30% to a of from to to with the a of from to to a of of the of for the to be in perceived difficulties to the but the of this is In summary, it is that a is a for the of In the that the will be this does not that other of from the or similar would be is to evaluate the most of including the of or of as as the points for the of the the goal was to have a that to the hearing loss but the alone et al. points for of the as a for hearing are to at the and In these the were the in the individuals as the was the for of hearing difficulties. In the case of the is not to with as was the case in of the Rather, the is for and to that of perceived In that it should also be that the is as a of perceived hearing difficulties or negative consequences of difficulties. As a perceived difficulties in are to or of will be for In the the of for the a of perceived is to perceived the of individuals in of the from the for the and Clearly, with or most from the with or from the in the it is that their are from the or of these a the and of the in that the of the and for the In of the for of the a of on and a of the for from other Furthermore, were on the for the in with of to to to and to were the that in a or of an the based on the to be a of perceived hearing difficulties the and in the of or were and the of these in type is the from in the of were to with group and and and as and as a the of group and were for both the and the The group and was only for the It should be that the not from to the to the In there were in both to an group for in their The were expected to in and this was the Furthermore, as in the of the described for group and were also There was a in with for both and perceived that the as a the of and on the be to in hearing loss. the was not in the similar group and were in et al. the there was on the of failure on the there may be no the of on as by et al. the of in both with is et al. that other from the for the of a hearing that in their in their are by in the of other or have on their or have The for of the group and on the of and of there were no of on there would be no for and of The that and impact and this is not a of of and on hearing should the of or of as It would be the of based on the could be as a of epidemiological studies are with to and limited time to only are and of but this is for of that are for epidemiological There for the that for other the for from of adults to a similar based on a function must be The the for the for adults. It was to both and from these and the of a of The is the which for of the The in the of a the and the In this to the by the and at the most of the the the The of the were of this but the to have to & of are the and the from these The from the with the and the in the a the The from the The function for the and the from the are both in the Hearing for the of a of from the for the and As the has from adults who both and a and The for the adults with and from the is as a in the of the of and in adults it is not that there is the in the and the from the in the The was directly from and As a this function will be used to the of based on the to based on the The function the the of the based on the or the There is the for adults from the with most of the the This is also by a This a of the of the the The of the with the is for the Hearing for the of the of based on the for the and a from The that would be from these the of the based on the the of these is not as clear as that for the based on the in This most has to with the a of and in the and the of the with of hearing loss in the broader for the of the in a the and of the the at of the The also had a on the with a that the for was from of other Furthermore, for the for from point to point the the of the from the The of based on the are for a and a Hearing for the of to of the of the based on the hearing are for from the and who to a about hearing at the time the was the of the or were hearing aids. The in the that the hearing aids increased with the in with were hearing aids of with poor hearing The of hearing are for the and the In the were both for hearing and the had used hearing aids. The also the that were in the to for with Hearing for the of the in the of were about hearing at the time the was were had hearing aids and were hearing aids. The the in who had hearing aids. The in who were and hearing This of hearing was as hearing aids, for at and for at the had hearing aids and were and hearing of hearing as with of with or hearing aids and about of with poor or hearing aids. There were with health in the and this was It is important to that the for the in are for the of hearing in the studies hearing in the studies to for in studies of hearing aids and were with hearing aids in Clearly, the perceived hearing difficulties and help via in these hearing but 15 to and used their hearing aids after the to et The on hearing uptake and in are in the First, the was and the hearing ago for many of these This in the of or hearing that used hearing Hearing and has improved in the is that the to of hearing aids was by healthcare and was driven by the it is only with and of who would have been by healthcare to be for hearing aids. from Humes et al. were based on the of hearing loss as categorized by the The based on the was both and for adults in the and moderate the in were most of in the and mild would not have been for hearing aids. the for hearing with health are and help to this of the of hearing in will in the to hearing aids is of was for of the and The Communication for the Hearing & was from adults with in the and individuals in the The the most and of hearing difficulties and an to difficulties. The is of and is to As by and the Communication of the are or and not a of the which the to and Furthermore, of Communication for and for are a of the other Communication and are to the and This of the that were in the of the and The from of the were to were and for of the was and with most In summary, the provided a of In of the were as by and were and with others. The to the Communication this was a of the by and the and for the as a function of or of the but the Communication there is a as based on the were with of the as and as the of on were for the Communication and with but not for the Communication the with at of the were In were for the of the for In summary, the group for this and for adults the of the from Communication driven most by hearing as but the with and the to hearing also as and for as a function of the for a and is by of for the hearing Hearing for the of the and are and the individuals in the the and was and the was and for and an of these are It was that the the with but also is to the consequences of that on the as in the broader the of with and hearing especially the the in with in in are of the of these other and this in were for of the from the of the adults in the The were for and the the and were no with among the of the the is the only of the that was to be a in of the Moreover, the and were for the also The for the of other on both the and The or on the other for only the among the of the of these solutions to for with of and for the of and with the an to be of with and from the as the from and Communication for the Hearing Hearing for the The of the of based on the the of this It the of hearing in moderate with but is also to the impact of hearing on the and the to the The the of to and by the model of the and have also been to be the have been for of & et al. and et al. The have from to the have from to with from to most & et al. & Humes et al. The has also been used in many studies as a hearing The of the or the is expected to be time as it not only on the but also on the function of the as it was the In a series of studies on the of the or the benefit to be from to and from to et al. that the is based on the or and these have been to be the from these is to be as The of is based on the the or the the of for the As its is an for in epidemiological In many of these were established about to ago and the was of the for the self-assessment of hearing difficulties in adults. In the of the only to the with The has improved as the from has can the in time for the are the and Two have been in of hearing difficulties and its In both were used to evaluate the the et al. used of the from adults who in from to that hearing aids or this is a Moreover, the was which would the in the with a In the et al. a improved of the et al. of a to the The for the group was with a of this mild hearing only in this used hearing aids, and a of this is a a that in et al. of the a was that of to both the and the The et al. that this was the of the in of with of it would be the by et al. were a of the by et al. that is not the There is of the are to both The in of the could be in to the in the used by et al. a of the the used by et al. is a from the the area of It would be to the the in the to the and of the only the is as an to the of The the and is for the adults in the In the of the with the is for this that the most from which the was was from the and the and from the adults was The of the and function The of this function to the points for the to points in of to to to and for of and The of the the and the there is in the with the is a of of the it is most that the and for the are the as the but this should be The the function from the to the for the The is the The a of the of the based on the and the other on the Hearing for the of Hearing this article has on of both to the of the and its in it was that this is it was not to address Rather, the hearing to a variety of and psychosocial difficulties. As the is that and the the both own described and by the & to but the