Addressing patients' psychosocial concerns regarding hearing aids within audiology appointments for older adults

Purpose: It has long been documented that patients may experience emotional reactions to a diagnosis of hearing impairment and recommendation of hearing aids. Because of this, patients may raise psychosocial concerns regarding their hearing rehabilitation during audiology appointments, particularly in relation to getting hearing aids. However, thus far there has been little systematic research exploring how patients' concerns about hearing aids are addressed by audiologists within appointments.

Method: This study used conversation analysis to examine a corpus of 63 video-recorded initial audiology appointments with older adults with hearing impairment. 

Results: The findings demonstrated that when patients expressed concerns regarding hearing aids, these concerns were typically psychosocial in nature and expressed in a way that carried a negative emotional stance. These types of turns thus invited an empathic response. However, patients' concerns were not typically addressed by audiologists during the appointment. As a consequence, patients persistently re-raised their concerns in subsequent turns, leading to expanded sequences of interaction during the management phase of the appointment. 

Conclusions: Older adults' psychosocial concerns regarding hearing aids may not always be sufficiently addressed within audiology appointments. A greater emphasis on emotionally focused communication within audiology could result in improved outcomes from hearing health care services.