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Maidment AJA 2016.pdf (389.17 kB)

Internet competency predicts practical hearing aid knowledge and skills in first-time hearing aid users

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journal contribution
posted on 2019-01-14, 11:14 authored by David MaidmentDavid Maidment, William Brassington, Heather Wharrad, Melanie Ferguson
© 2016 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Purpose: The purpose of the study was to assess whether Internet competency predicted practical hearing aid knowledge and handling skills in first-time hearing aid users. Method: The design was a prospective, randomized controlled trial of a multimedia educational intervention consisting of interactive video tutorials (or reusable learning objects [RLOs]). RLOs were delivered through DVD for TV or PC, and online. Internet competency was measured at the hearing aid fitting appointment, whereas hearing aid knowledge and practical handling skills were assessed 6 weeks postfitting. Results: Internet competency predicted practical hearing aid knowledge and handling skills, controlling for age, hearing sensitivity, educational status, and gender for the group that received the RLOs. Internet competency was inversely related to the number of times the RLOs were watched. Conclusion: Associations between Internet competency and practical hearing aid knowledge, handling skills, and watching the RLOs fewer times may have arisen because of improved self-efficacy. Therefore, first-time hearing aid users who are more competent Internet users may be better equipped to apply newly learned information to effectively manage their hearing loss.

Funding

This paper presents independent research funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) under its Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) Program (Grant Reference Number PB-PG-0909-20294).

History

School

  • Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences

Published in

American Journal of Audiology

Volume

25

Issue

3S

Pages

303 - 307

Citation

MAIDMENT, D. ... et al., 2016. Internet competency predicts practical hearing aid knowledge and skills in first-time hearing aid users. American Journal of Audiology, 25(3S), pp. 303 - 307.

Publisher

© American Speech-Language-Hearing Association

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Publisher statement

This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Publication date

2016-10-01

Notes

This paper was accepted for publication in the journal American Journal of Audiology and the definitive published version is available at https://doi.org/10.1044/2016_AJA-16-0022

ISSN

1059-0889

Language

  • en