25 September 2017

Hearing aids beneficial for people with mild to moderate hearing loss

People with mild to moderate hearing loss benefit from hearing aids, an academic study has confirmed.

Published in a Cochrane systematic review today – globally regarded as highest level of evidence in health care - the findings provide a credible and robust summary of all the existing evidence.

Dr Melanie Ferguson, study lead, said:

“It might seem obvious that hearing aids are effective, because they are in such widespread use.  They are the main support offered to people with hearing loss to enable them to continue to lead their lives with as little difficulty as possible.  But before we did our research there was very little up-to-date evidence to show the level of impact hearing aids have on a person’s ability to hear and communicate effectively or on their general health.  Our research shows that there is good quality evidence that hearing aids are effective in enabling people to listen better and to participate fully in everyday activities.  There is also evidence that there are benefits to their general health from using hearing aids.  So for the first time we are able to reassure people with mild or moderate hearing loss who wish to try hearing aids that hearing aids should be offered to them, and that using hearing aids have a number of proven benefits on their quality of life.”

A summary of the research can be accessed here and the full paper can be found here.