Consumer Responses to a Hearing Aid Services and Satisfaction Questionnaire 

Carren J. Stika Ph.D. and Mark Ross Ph.D.       

The Lexington Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC), in cooperation with the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center for Persons who are Hard of Hearing or Late Deafened (RRTC) located in San Diego, conducted a questionnaire survey to investigate consumer satisfaction with services provided when purchasing hearing aids.  In addition, because consumers in the United States can purchase hearing aids from two types of dispensers – audiologists and hearing instrument specialists – we were interested in exploring whether there were significant differences between level of consumer satisfaction when hearing aids were purchased from these two groups of dispensers. It should be emphasized that we did not want to know whether people were satisfied with their hearing aids, but rather whether they were satisfied with the services they received from the person who dispensed the aids to them. 

A total of 942 hearing aid users completed the questionnaire.  Results indicated that most consumers (76.6%), regardless of the type of dispenser from which they purchased their hearing aid (audiologist versus hearing instrument specialist), indicated that they were “definitely satisfied” or “satisfied” with services received.  With respect to differences between type of dispenser, a significantly greater percentage of people who received hearing aids from audiologists reported higher levels of satisfaction than did those who received their aids from hearing instrument specialists (81.4% versus 66.8%).  Similarly, a significantly larger percentage of folks who purchased their hearing aids from hearing instrument specialists indicated dissatisfaction with the services they received compared to those who purchased their aids from audiologists (21.5% versus 9.6%).   

The responses to other questions asked in this survey demonstrated both similarities and differences between the two groups of dispensers.  Clear differences in referral patterns were noted, with physicians referring a much higher percentage of the respondents to audiologists (32.5%) than to hearing instrument specialists (7.8%).  In contrast, more people who purchased their hearing aids from hearing instrument specialists reported being influenced by advertisements (21.2%) versus people who purchased their hearing aids from audiologists (2.3%).  There was no significant difference between groups with respect to the average cost of the hearing aids purchased. The average cost of a hearing aid sold by both audiologists and hearing instrument specialists was between $1000 and $1500.   

Several patterns emerge with respect to services and information provided to hearing aid consumers.  Although the vast majority of respondents reported receiving information about the care of their new hearing aids, batteries, and earmold hygiene, fewer than 50% of the respondents noted that they received information about the use of the “T-switch” (telecoil), directional microphones, or other hearing assistive technology from either audiologists or hearing instrument specialists.  Moreover, the number of respondents who reported receiving information about coping and communication strategies, support groups (e.g., SHHH, ALDA), or invitations to participate in group hearing aid orientation meetings was less than 20%.  

We also were interested in exploring whether people with hearing loss understood the background and training differences between audiologists and hearing instrument specialists, or understood that there were indeed two separate groups legally dispensing hearing aids.  Written responses to the survey question addressing this point suggested that people did sense that there was a “professional” difference”, although they could not always specify exactly what that was. There were frequent comments that audiologists were trained in the medical aspects of hearing loss while hearing instrument specialists focused on the hearing aids themselves.   

In our judgment, perhaps the most relevant information obtained from this survey had to do with the type of services obtained, or rather, not obtained, by consumers when purchasing a hearing aid.  According to respondents, neither audiologists nor hearing instrument specialists did a very good job in conveying information about T-coils, directional microphones, and other types of hearing assistive devices.  Information about coping and communication strategies was generally not provided by either type of dispenser. Hence, although the survey indicated that consumer satisfaction may be reported as relatively high, a closer look at the types of services provided draw into focus areas clearly falling short of the mark.