Hearing Aid Adoption is Associated with the Type of Significant Other in Attendance at Hearing Care Appointments

There is increasing evidence to suggest that the implementation of family-centered care practices in clinical audiology yields positive patient outcomes. Previous work showed that significant-other attendance at audiology appointments, a recommended practice consistent with family-centered care, was associated with greater odds of hearing aid adoption and increased satisfaction with hearing aids. The primary goal of this retrospective explorative study was to investigate the unexplored question of whether an association exists between the type of significant other (SO) in attendance at appointments and hearing aid adoption. The study sample consisted of adult patients from a chain of private clinics in the United Kingdom who either attended their audiology appointment with a SO (n = 10,015) or alone (n = 37,152). Six SO types were identified and classified: partner (n = 6,608), parent (n = 76), child (n = 2,577), sibling (n = 208), friend (n = 518), and carer (n = 28). In addition to replicating previous findings which showed that significant-other attendance at audiology appointments was positively associated with hearing aid adoption, results from the current paper also revealed that the odds of hearing aid adoption were greater if the SO was of a stronger relationship tie (i.e., partners, parents, children, and siblings) and not a weaker relationship tie (i.e., friends, carers). These findings suggest that an extension of the non-audiological factor of significant-other attendance during the hearing rehabilitation process should be considered: the relationship type patients have with their significant others.