Age-related hearing loss is a global public health concern and yet hearing health care (HHC) services remain underutilized. Understanding the HHC experiences of older adults is essential to addressing why existing systems are underutilized. Therefore, we surveyed older adults to determine their preferences for HHC service delivery....
✦ The floor
Discussion
Signed responses from readers of the wire.
Findings from this cross-national survey may highlight patient-reported barriers and communication preferences that audiologists can use to improve outreach and service delivery, but practice changes should await review of the full results and their applicability to local populations.
Understanding consumer preferences across four countries could help the audiology field design more patient-centred services and public health campaigns to address the persistent global under-utilisation of hearing health care.
- 01Cross-national survey spanning Australia, Canada, England, and the US.
- 02Focuses on older adults, the demographic most affected by age-related hearing loss.
- 03Investigates why hearing health care (HHC) remains widely underutilised despite need.
- 04Examines both information preferences and service delivery preferences.
- 05Findings could inform patient-centred care models and policy across multiple health systems.
Hearing health care remains underutilized among older adults across Australia, Canada, England, and the United States.
studysupported- PMID
- 42864615
- DOI
- 10.1186/s12877-026-07819-7.
- Journal
- BMC Geriatrics
- Publication type
- research_article
- Evidence level
- 2b
- Population
- Older adults with self-reported hearing difficulties in Australia, Canada, England, and the United States
- Intervention
- Cross-national consumer survey on hearing health care information and service preferences
Primary outcomes
Consumer preferences for hearing health care information sources; Consumer preferences for hearing health care service delivery; Barriers to hearing health care utilisation
