When: Monday 7 October, 3:30pm
Where: Room 355, Friedman Building, 2177 Wesbrook Mall
Title: Counselling During Real Ear Measurements: The Client’s Perspective
Candidate: Angela Ryall
Committee: Lorienne Jenstad (Audiology and Speech Sciences); Tami Howe (Audiology and Speech Sciences); Garnet Grosjean (Educational Studies)
Abstract:
Objective: Amplification is one intervention to address hearing loss. When dispensing hearing aids, audiologists must follow validated fitting and verification procedures to ensure that the hearing aids are properly fitted to the client’s hearing thresholds. Real ear measurements (REM) are best practice for verifying hearing aids. This study investigated informational counseling throughout REMs by gathering perspectives of new hearing aid users regarding the content and format of counselling.
Methods: Focus groups were conducted to elicit feedback on a demonstration of informational counselling during REM hearing aid verification. There were 17 adult participants (5 male, 12 female) who all had memory of REMs occurring during their own hearing aid verification. The data from the focus groups were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using qualitative content analysis.
Results: The data were organized into two broad categories: the interaction (i.e., relational) and transaction (i.e., content) of informational counselling. Within those two categories, the data were divided into positive and negative aspects, and suggested changes to visual and verbal information presented during the REM verification demonstration.
Conclusion: Most clients were interested in learning more about REMs if the information was accessible. Results provide recommendations for clinical audiologists and REM system manufacturers to make the visuals and verbal information presented during informational counselling more client-friendly and individualized for client-centred care. To continue exploring this new inquiry, further experimental research is needed to determine if there is any added value of incorporating informational counselling during REMs.