Investigating barriers and enablers to hearing aid take-up and use by older adults with hearing loss – a focus group study

OBJECTIVE: Untreated hearing loss is associated with significant negative physical, psychological, cognitive, and financial sequelae. Hearing aid (HA) take-up and use are low. Current studies have explained limited variance in HA take-up and use. This focus group study used an applied theoretical framework of human behaviour (Theoretical Domains Framework) to investigate barriers and enablers to HA take-up and use by older adults to identify top potentially modifiable barriers and enablers that could be addressed with behavioural interventions. DESIGN: Data on barriers and enablers to HA take-up and use was obtained through online focus groups with older adults with hearing loss. STUDY SAMPLES: Participants were 19 adult HA users and 12 non-users in Australia with diagnosed hearing loss recruited from two rural and one large metropolitan audiology clinic/s. RESULTS: enablers to HA take-up and use. CONCLUSIONS: These top barriers and enablers to HA take-up and use will be addressed through theory-informed behavioural interventions in a further study to improve HA take-up and use.