Background and Objectives

In the U.S., up to two-thirds of older adults have hearing loss. Untreated hearing loss can have significant health outcomes, yet less than 20% of adults with hearing loss use hearing aids. In this study, we examined potential factors associated with hearing aid use, including detailed measures of health status, access to care, patient engagement, and technology use, in a nationally representative sample of Medicare beneficiaries.

Research Design and Methods

Cross-sectional study using the 2017 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey. Participants with self-reported hearing loss were included. The primary outcome was hearing aid use. Factors potentially associated with hearing aid use included: socio-demographics, health determinants, access to care, patient activation, and technology access/use.

Results

Overall, 5,146 participants were included. Of them, 27% reported using hearing aids. In a multivariable logistic regression model, predisposing factors associated with greater odds of hearing aid use included older age, identifying as a man, identifying as white, having completed college, having 3 or more chronic conditions, having dementia, not having trouble seeing, not having limitations in ADLs, having moderate relative to low information-seeking scores, and having a personal computer at home (range of odds ratios:1.22-4.46). Enabling factors associated with greater odds of hearing aid use included higher income, living alone relative to living with family members other than a spouse, and having a usual source of care (range of odds ratios: 1.43-1.54).

Discussion and Implications

In addition to addressing previously identified factors associated with hearing aid use, improving access to health care, technology, and information about hearing aids may improve the uptake of hearing aids. These findings help further inform our understanding on how to address low treatment levels of hearing loss in the community by identifying new populations to target and potentially modifiable risk factors for hearing aid use.

© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America.