Digital vs. physical ear-nose-and-throat specialist assessment screening for complicated hearing loss and serious ear disorders in hearing-impaired adults prior to hearing aid treatment: a randomized controlled trial

Effects of remote ear-nose-and-throat specialist assessment screening on self-reported hearing aid benefit and satisfaction

OBJECTIVE

To explore the impact of remote versus in-person ear-nose-and-throat (ENT) specialist screening before hearing treatment on self-reported hearing aid (HA) benefit and satisfaction among adult first-time HA users.

DESIGN

Participants were randomised to either remote or in-person ENT assessment before treatment initiation. Hearing ability, hearing quality, and treatment satisfaction were assessed pre- and post-HA treatment using the SSQ12, IOI-HA, and selected items from the 2021 Danish national Patient-Reported Experience Measures. Average daily HA usage was also recorded.

STUDY SAMPLE

751 adult potential first-time HA users with self-reported hearing impairment were included; 501 participants were remotely assessed in private or public audiological clinics, and 250 control group participants were assessed in-person by private ENT specialists. Of the 658 participants who completed the entire trial, 454 received HAs.

RESULTS

No significant post-treatment HA benefit differences were found between groups. Remotely assessed HA recipients in private clinics expressed slightly higher staff and waiting time satisfaction. Participants with normal hearing and mild/moderate hearing loss reported higher pre-treatment hearing ability and quality. No significant difference in average daily HA usage was observed between groups.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings suggest that remote screening does not compromise patient-reported HA benefit and satisfaction when compared to in-person screening.

Cross-Cultural Translation and Adaptation of the Consumer Ear Disease Risk Assessment (CEDRA) Questionnaire in Danish

This study aimed to cross-culturally translate and adapt the Consumer Ear Disease Risk Assessment (CEDRA) questionnaire into Danish for remote ear, nose, and, throat assessments in adult, first-time hearing aid users when used in conjunction with audiometric measures and visual images of the tympanic membrane. Employing field-specific guidelines, the tool underwent a rigorous translation process. This was succeeded by field testing via cognitive debriefing with 30 intendent respondents and a pilot test involving 600 adult, potential first-time hearing aid users from 2020-2022. Test-retest reliability analysis in 113 respondents revealed high consistency and reproducibility, with most items showing Spearman's correlation coefficients of 0.82 or higher and a Pearson's correlation of 0.92 for the total score. The tool demonstrated moderate discriminative ability in identifying individuals at high and low risk of complicated hearing loss and targeted ear diseases, supported by an area under the curve of 0.82 on the receiver operating characteristics curve. Our findings suggest that the Danish-translated version of CEDRA is a reliable and effective screening instrument when used with audiometry and tympanometry, warranting further validation in a larger population.