To establish the level of older adults' understanding of medical jargon used in letters sent to patients from audiology departments after an audiology assessment appointment.
✦ The floor
Discussion
Signed responses from readers of the wire.
Audiologists should review and simplify the language used in patient correspondence letters, replacing technical jargon with plain-language alternatives to improve patient understanding.
Poor comprehension of clinic letters can undermine informed consent, self-management, and follow-up adherence, making plain-language communication a patient-safety issue for audiology practices.
- 01Study assessed older adults' ability to understand jargon in post-appointment audiology letters.
- 02Medical jargon commonly used in clinic-to-patient correspondence was poorly understood by many recipients.
- 03Findings highlight a communication gap between audiologists and patients in written materials.
- 04Plain-language rewriting of correspondence could improve patient comprehension and engagement.
- 05Older adults are a particularly vulnerable group for health literacy challenges.
Older adults have difficulty understanding medical jargon used in audiology clinic-to-patient correspondence letters.
studysupported- PMID
- 42647851
- DOI
- 10.1080/14992027.2026.2720842.
- Journal
- International Journal of Audiology
- Publication type
- research_article
- Evidence level
- 4
- Population
- Older adults who had attended audiology assessment appointments and received clinic-to-patient correspondence
- Intervention
- Assessment of comprehension of medical jargon in audiology clinic letters
Primary outcomes
Comprehension of medical jargon terms used in audiology clinic-to-patient correspondence letters