A Comparison of Two Measures of Hearing Aid Satisfaction in a Group of Elderly Hearing Aid Wearers

Abstract

In Brief Objective The objective of this study was to compare the results of two measures of hearing aid satisfaction, an indirect measure (Satisfaction with Amplification in Daily Living, SADL;Cox & Alexander, 1999) and a direct measure (an expanded version of the MarkeTrak-IV survey; Kochkin, 1996), in a group of elderly hearing aid wearers. Design A total of 43 elderly hearing aid wearers completed both satisfaction measures (order counterbalanced across wearers) after 1 mo of wearing 2-channel wide dynamic range compression (WDRC) in-the-canal (ITC) hearing aids. A correlational research design was employed. Results The elderly hearing aid wearers in this study yielded results on each measure of hearing aid satisfaction that were generally consistent with those found previously in larger groups of similar samples. The correlation between each measure of satisfaction (r = 0.75) was positive, moderately strong, and significant (p < 0.01) for the global scores of the SADL and MarkeTrak-IV scales. Conclusions Although different approaches to the measurement of satisfaction were followed in the development of the SADL (indirect approach) and the MarkeTrak-IV (direct measurement) scales, similar results were obtained with each scale. The 15-item SADL instrument, however, is much shorter than the MarkeTrak-IV instrument and, as a result, is more efficient to administer clinically. Two well-developed measures of hearing-aid satisfaction, one direct (MarkeTrak) and one indirect (SADL), are compared in a group of elderly hearing aid users who completed both satisfaction measures. Despite the different approaches to the measurement of satisfaction, similar results were obtained with each scale. The correlation between the two global scores was positive, moderately strong, and significant. The 15-item SADL instrument, however, is much shorter than the MarkeTrak-IV instrument and, as a result, is more efficient to administer clinically.