Measuring Hearing Aid Outcomes Using the Satisfaction with Amplification in Daily Life (SADL) Questionnaire: Australian Data

The aims of this study were to investigate hearing aid satisfaction for a group of older Australians fitted with government-funded hearing aids using the Satisfaction with Amplification in Daily Life (SADL) questionnaire; to compare the Australian data gathered with the provisional normative data reported by Cox and Alexander (1999); and to investigate the relationship between SADL satisfaction and several participant variables, hearing aid variables, and other outcome measures.

The SADL questionnaire and a Client Satisfaction Survey (CSS) were distributed by mail to 1284 adults fitted with government-funded hearing aids three to six months previously. 1014 surveys were returned. The mean age of participants was 75.32 years; 54.4% of participants were male, and 54.8% were fitted binaurally. Participants were fitted primarily with digitally programmable hearing aids of various styles (22.5% BTEs, 34.8% ITEs, 41.8% ITCs, 0.9% nonstandard [NS] devices).

Overall, participants reported a considerable level of satisfaction with their devices. SADL Global and subscale scores were significantly higher for the Australian sample than the U.S. norms described by Cox and Alexander (1999).

Key Words

Hearing aids - older people - outcomes - satisfaction