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J Am Acad Audiol 1999; 10(01): 01-13
DOI: 10.1055/s-0042-1748326
Original Article

Personality and the Subjective Assessment of Hearing Aids

Authors

  • Robyn M. Cox

    University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee
    Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Memphis, Tennessee

  • Genevieve C. Alexander

    Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Memphis, Tennessee

  • Ginger Gray

    University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee
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Abstract

Relatively little is known about the influence of patients' personality features on the responses they make to self-assessment items used to measure the outcome of a hearing aid fitting. If the personality of the hearing aid wearer has a significant influence on self-report outcome data, it would be important to explore the relevant personality variables and to be cognizant of their effects when using subjective outcome data to justify decisions about clinical services or other matters. This investigation explored the relationship between several personality attributes and responses to the Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit (APHAB). It found that more extroverted patients tend to report more hearing aid benefit in all speech communication situations. In addition, patients with a more external locus of control tend to have more negative reactions to loud environmental sounds, both with and without amplification. Anxiety also played a small additional role in determining APHAB responses. Although personality variables were found to explain a relatively small amount of the variance in APHAB responses (usually around 10%), these outcomes should alert practitioners and researchers to the potential effects of personality variables in all self-report data.

Abbreviations: ANX = anxiety; APHAB = Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit; AV = APHAB subscale Aversiveness; BN = APHAB subscale Background Noise; EC = APHAB subscale Ease of Communication; EIP = extroversion-introversion preference; MBTI = Myers-Briggs Type Indicator; PO = belief in powerful others; RV = APHAB subscale Reverberation; Self = belief in internal control; SRT = speech reception threshold; STAI = State-Trait Anxiety Inventory

Key Words

Anxiety - benefit - disability - extroversion - hearing aids - locus of control - personality - questionnaire


Publication History

Article published online:
23 April 2022

© 1999. American Academy of Audiology. This article is published by Thieme.

Thieme Medical Publishers, Inc.
333 Seventh Avenue, 18th Floor, New York, NY 10001, USA

 

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