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Public Health Research and Practice Public Health Research and Practice Society
The peer-reviewed journal of the Sax Institute
RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

Older adults’ perceptions of current and future hearing healthcare services in Australia, England, US and Canada

Catherine McMahon A * , Cornetta Mosley B , M Kathleen Pichora-Fuller C , Adrian Davis D , Carolyn Baylor E , Kathryn Yorkston E and Kelly Tremblay F
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A HEAR Centre, Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

B Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, University of South Alabama, US

C Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Canada

D The Ear Institute, University College London, UK

E Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, US

F Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, US

* Correspondence to: cath.mcmahon@mq.edu.au

Public Health Research and Practice 31, e3152128 https://doi.org/10.17061/phrp3152128
Published: 2 December 2021

2021 © McMahon et al. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence, which allows others to redistribute, adapt and share this work non-commercially provided they attribute the work and any adapted version of it is distributed under the same Creative Commons licence terms.

Abstract

Objective:

A high prevalence of hearing loss in older adults contrasts with a small proportion of people who seek help. Emerging developments in hearing healthcare (HHC) could reduce costs but may not increase access. This study evaluated older adults’ perceptions of current and future HHC services in Australia, England, US and Canada to explore potential levers and system improvements

Methods:

Semi-structured focus groups (n = 47) were conducted, and data were analysed using a directed content analysis. Participants were adults 60 years and older with a) no hearing problems; b) hearing problems and hearing aid use; and c) hearing problems and no hearing aid use.

Results:

Perceived barriers, facilitators and preferences were largely consistent across countries, with stigma and trust in HHC being the barriers most often discussed.

Conclusion:

Although cost and access were consistently deemed important, there may be limited change in help-seeking and HHC uptake unless the key barriers of trust and stigma are addressed. When seeking to undertake transformative change to healthcare it is important to engage recipients of care to understand existing barriers and coproduce a user-centered solution.