TY - JOUR
T1 - Hearing Health Care Digital Therapeutics
T2 - Patient Satisfaction Evidence
AU - Tye-Murray, Nancy
AU - Spehar, Brent
AU - Mauze, Elizabeth
AU - Cardinal, Christopher
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was funded by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders under the National Institutes of Health under Grant R43-AG065075 awarded to Christopher Cardinal. The authors would like to thank Intricon Corporation for generously donating the Hearing Health Express - Felix 3560 hearing aid systems (the remote microphones were activated after the study was complete). They would also like to thank Courtney Kroeger and Abigail Widisch for their help with data collection.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
PY - 2022/9
Y1 - 2022/9
N2 - Purpose: A digital therapeutic is a software-based intervention for a disease and/or disorder and often includes a daily, interactive curriculum and exercises; online support from a professional versed in the treatment base; and an online support community, typically active as a social chat group. Recently, the Consumer Technology Association published revised standards for digital therapeutics (DTx) that stipulate that a DTx must be evidence based and founded in scientific evidence showing effectiveness and must be supported by evidence showing improved patient satisfaction and adherence to an intervention. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether a DTx could help older adults better adjust to their hearing loss and acclimate to new hearing aids. Method: Thirty older adults with mild or moderate hearing loss who had never used hearing aids participated. All hearing aids were fitted remotely. Participants used a hearing health care DTx (Amptify) for 4 weeks, either immediately following receipt of the hearing aids or 4 weeks after the fitting. A control condition was watching closed caption television. Participants completed a satisfaction questionnaire that queried about their impressions of the DTx, which had items that included both a rating scale of 1–7 and open-ended questions. Results: Ninety-six percent of the participants reported positive benefits, and one-half reported that the DTx helped them to adjust to their new hearing aids. They assigned a score of 5.8 to one of the questionnaire items that is similar to a Net Promoter Score Benefits, which included an enhanced ability to engage in conversation and increased listening confidence. Conclusion: This investigation provides scientific evidence to support the use of a hearing health care DTx, paving the way for audiologists to be able to more easily and efficiently incorporate follow-up aural rehabilitation into their routine clinical services and to be able to provide services remotely.
AB - Purpose: A digital therapeutic is a software-based intervention for a disease and/or disorder and often includes a daily, interactive curriculum and exercises; online support from a professional versed in the treatment base; and an online support community, typically active as a social chat group. Recently, the Consumer Technology Association published revised standards for digital therapeutics (DTx) that stipulate that a DTx must be evidence based and founded in scientific evidence showing effectiveness and must be supported by evidence showing improved patient satisfaction and adherence to an intervention. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether a DTx could help older adults better adjust to their hearing loss and acclimate to new hearing aids. Method: Thirty older adults with mild or moderate hearing loss who had never used hearing aids participated. All hearing aids were fitted remotely. Participants used a hearing health care DTx (Amptify) for 4 weeks, either immediately following receipt of the hearing aids or 4 weeks after the fitting. A control condition was watching closed caption television. Participants completed a satisfaction questionnaire that queried about their impressions of the DTx, which had items that included both a rating scale of 1–7 and open-ended questions. Results: Ninety-six percent of the participants reported positive benefits, and one-half reported that the DTx helped them to adjust to their new hearing aids. They assigned a score of 5.8 to one of the questionnaire items that is similar to a Net Promoter Score Benefits, which included an enhanced ability to engage in conversation and increased listening confidence. Conclusion: This investigation provides scientific evidence to support the use of a hearing health care DTx, paving the way for audiologists to be able to more easily and efficiently incorporate follow-up aural rehabilitation into their routine clinical services and to be able to provide services remotely.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85138458515&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1044/2022_AJA-21-00236
DO - 10.1044/2022_AJA-21-00236
M3 - Article
C2 - 36037482
AN - SCOPUS:85138458515
VL - 31
SP - 905
EP - 913
JO - American Journal of Audiology
JF - American Journal of Audiology
SN - 1059-0889
IS - 3S
ER -