The elderly population’s experience with hearing rehabilitation services

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this master thesis is to get an indication on how elderly with hearing loss experience the hearing rehabilitation services in Norway. The thesis also includes an insight in their day-to-day life, hearing barriers and how they cope with it. The issue of this paper is: What experience do elderly people with hearing loss have with hearing rehabilitation services? Methods: Four participants participated in a one-to-one semi structured interview. The participants were over 80 years of age, living at home, and had some sort of hearing loss. The interviews took 40 minutes on average and were conducted in the homes of the participants. The transcriptions were then coded using open codes. Results: Three out of four did not receive follow-up appointments after the hearing aids were given. Everyone had some problem with their hearing aid and needed treatment to optimize the utility value. All coped with their hearing loss when it mattered to them, but at times things were avoided to some degree. Changes to their activities because of their hearing loss were common. Conclusion: There are indications that elderly people with hearing loss are lacking experience with hearing rehabilitation services. Individually adapted hearing rehabilitation is needed. Communication between different professions is lacking. A structured hearing rehabilitation service should be a goal looking forward.