Functional Health Benefits of Hearing Aid and FM Systems

As indicated in Chapter 2 estimates indicate that over 29 million individuals in the U.S. exhibit some degree of sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) (NIDCD, 2001). It is well accepted that the major sequlae of SNHL is communicative difficulty, particularly in noisy or reverberant listening environments (Crandell, 1991, Crandell and Smaldino, 2000, 2001; Dubno, Dirks, and Morgan, 1984; Killion, 1997; Moore, 1997; Nabalek and Mason, 1981; Plomp, 1986; Suter, 1985). Due to the deleterious effects of SNHL on communication, research has also indicated that individuals with hearing impairment can exhibit reduced psychosocial function, such as increased feelings of isolation, depression, loneliness, anger, fear, frustration, and disappointment (Bess, Lichtenstein, Logan and Burger, 1989; Bess, Lichtenstein and Logan, 1991; Christian, Dluhy and O’Neill, 1989; Crandell, 1998; Hetu, Lalonde and Getty, 1987). In addition to, and perhaps the direct result of, reduced psychosocial functioning, hearing impairment has also been shown to be related to an individual’s degree of physical, or functional, health status (Bess et al., 1989; Crandell, 1998; Mulrow, Christine, Endicott, Tuley, Velez, Charlip, Rhodes, Hill, and Deniro, 1990). Specifically, a review of the literature suggests that persons with SNHL tend to exhibit a higher incidence of health-related difficulties, including hypertension, ischemic heart disease, arrhythmias, and osteoarthritis. In addition, hearing loss has been shown to be related to reductions in activity level, physical mobility, and overall quality of