Accepted for/Published in: JMIR mHealth and uHealth
Date Submitted: Sep 8, 2021
Date Accepted: Jan 7, 2022
Real-World Effectiveness of Wearable Augmented Reality Device for Patients with Hearing Loss: Prospective Study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Hearing loss limits communication and social activity and hearing aids (HAs) are an efficient rehabilitative option for improving oral communication and speech comprehension as well as the psychosocial comfort of people with hearing loss. And also to overcome this problem, over-the-counter (OTC) amplification devices including personal sound amplification products (PSAPs) and wearable augmented reality devices (WARDs) have been introduced.
Objective:
To evaluate the clinical effectiveness of WARDs for patients with mild-to-moderate hearing loss.
Methods:
A total of 40 patients (18 men, 22 women) with mild-to-moderate hearing loss was enrolled prospectively in this study. All participants were instructed to wear a WARD, Galaxy Buds Pro (Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Suwon, Korea), at least four hours a day for two weeks, for amplifying ambient sounds. Questionnaires including the Korean version of the abbreviated profile of hearing aid benefit (K-APHAB) and the Korean adaptation of the international outcome inventory for hearing aids (K-IOI-HA) were used to assess personal satisfaction in all participants. Audiologic tests, including sound field audiometry, sound field word recognition score (WRS), and the Korean version of hearing in noise test (K-HINT), were administered to 14 of 40 patients. The tests were performed under two conditions: unaided and aided with WARD.
Results:
The mean age of the participants was 55.4 ± 10.7 years. After two weeks of the field trial, participants demonstrated a benefit of WARD on the K-APHAB. Scores of 3 subscales of ease of communication, reverberation, and background noise were improved significantly (P < .001). However, scores regarding aversiveness were worse under the aided condition (P < .001). K-IOI-HA results indicated high user satisfaction after the two-week field trial. In audiologic evaluation, K-HINT did not show significant differences between unaided and aided conditions (P = .969). However, hearing threshold in sound field audiometry (P = .001) and WRS (P = .002) showed significant improvements under the aided condition.
Conclusions:
WARDs can be beneficial for patients with mild-to-moderate hearing loss as a cost-effective alternative to conventional hearing aids. Clinical Trial: This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Samsung Medical Center in Seoul, South Korea (IRB No. 2020-05-052, 2020-10-163), and conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.
Citation
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