Ida Featured by the Hearing Journal in Article on Hearing Aid Uptake

By Amanda Farah Cox

A recent article in the Hearing Journal, “The Noncompliance Challenge: How to Improve Hearing Aid Use,” references Ida tools as a way to increase patient uptake of hearing aids.

The November cover story, written by Gina Shaw, refers to the feasibility study conducted by Melanie Ferguson at the National Institute for Health Research Nottingham Hearing Biomedical Research Unit. The article cites the feasibility study as a specific way that the Motivation tools can be used to encourage patients after they have been given hearing aids to follow through with the prescribed treatment plan.

“We found evidence showing increased readiness for hearing aids resulted in greater hearing aid use longer term,” Melanie told Shaw in the article. “The audiologists in the study indicated to us that they felt the tools helped them to get their patients to open up more and think about what their individual day-to-day issues were, rather than just standard questions.”

The article also follows up on Melanie’s randomized control trial for C2Hear Online.

Included in the article is a related, brief introduction to Ida’s Line, Box, and Circle tools, along with other recommended interventions. Others interviewed for the article stressed that follow up interventions similar to Group audiological rehabilitation (AR) help improve compliance. Ida fellow Barbara Weinstein also spoke about why it is important for hearing care professionals to follow up with their clients.

You can read the full article at the Hearing Journal.