Activity limitation and participation restriction in adults seeking hearing aid fitting and rehabilitation

Purposes: We first aimed to describe demographic and audiological characteristics of adults referred to a university hospital for hearing aid ( HA) fitting and rehabilitation. Our second aim was to employ an inventory that assesses life consequences of hearing impairment ( HI) in terms of perceived activity limitation and participation restriction for the first time in a Norwegian adult outpatient population. A third aim was to study life consequences by audiological and demographic characteristics. Subjects and methods: During one year consecutive patients ( n = 343) were requested to answer the Hearing Disability and Handicap Scale ( HDHS) assessing activity limitation and participation restriction in relation to an audiological examination and medical consultation. The mean threshold of hearing ( MTH) was ascertained by pure tone thresholds at 0.5 - 1 - 2 - 4 kHz in the better ear. Results: Activity limitation and participation restriction were both higher for HA experienced than HA naive subjects ( p < 50.01). In a multivariable model, the explained adjusted variance of activity limitation ( R-2) was 43.4% with MTH, perceived duration, and severity of hearing problems as predictor variables. Correspondingly, the explained adjusted variance of participation restriction was 28.4% for a model with MTH, age, gender and perceived severity of hearing problems as predictors. Conclusions: As a standard supplement to audiometric tests, HDHS may be successfully applied as a clinical tool among similar hearing impaired outpatients in order to assess activity limitation and participation restriction as part of audiological rehabilitation.