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Use of the Hearing Handicap Scale as a measure of hearing aid benefit was investigated. New hearing aid users with bilateral, sensorineural hearing losses ranging from 5 dB HL to 55 dB HL served as subjects. Changes in speech reception threshold, word identification, and Hearing Handicap Scale were derived by comparing data obtained prior to hearing aid use with that obtained following four weeks of hearing aid use. Results showed a significant improvement for all three measurements and indicated that improvement in word identification presented at conversational level was more related to self-reported hearing aid benefit than was improvement in speech reception threshold. Also, word identification ratings obtained with the stimuli presented at conversation speech level produced a significant correlation with Hearing Handicap Scale scores.
J. Curtis Tannahill (1979) studied this question.