Disposable Hearing Aid Battery Management: Survey Assessment of Providers and Qualitative Interviews of Patients

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study was to better understand the behaviors that hearing aid users engage in to manage batteries. Method Two arms of research, a survey of audiologists (n = 110) and qualitative interviews with adult hearing aid users (n = 13), were conducted. Surveys were distributed and collected both via paper and online methods. Descriptive analyses of survey results were conducted to report on common threads. Qualitative interviews were conducted with video recording for transcription purposes. These transcripts were then coded thematically to identify shared themes across participants. Results Results of this study highlight the variability in behavior between provider-recommended strategies (preemptive battery management) and the reactive/delay strategies that are implemented by users. Patient reports indicate several challenges related to changing their batteries including limited information on hearing aid batteries, physical/sensory challenges to the act, and the social impact of having to change hearing aid batteries. Concurrently, patients express a wide range of strategies to address other challenges including engaging in cost-conscious behaviors when managing batteries (both purchasing and deciding to replace) and maintaining a collection of easily accessible batteries for use. Conclusions Hearing aid batteries are a topic that reflect social and economic factors in a patient's life. While providers may report they cover these topics sufficiently, challenges related to batteries may need specific elucidation by the clinician to ensure adherence to recommendations and functioning devices.