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1 Auburn University, Auburn, AL
2 University of California, Santa Barbara
johns19{at}auburn.edu
Purpose: The visibility of open ear (OE) styles of hearing instruments was rigorously investigated for their potential to reduce the stigma of wearing hearing aids.
Method: Three groups of 50 young adults (150 total) rated the visibility of 6 hearing aid stylesOE, invisible completely-in-the-canal (CIC), mini in-the-canal (m-ITC), half and full-shell in-the-ear (ITE), and behind-the-ear (BTE)worn by a peer model with revealing hairstyle, photographed from 2 ft and at 3 different angles (45°, 90°, and 135°).
Results: CIC was rated significantly most "invisible" at 45° and 90°, OE and m-ITC were next at those angles, and OE and BTE were least invisible at 135°.
Conclusions: The findings have implications for counseling potential users who are reluctant to try hearing aids for cosmetic reasons.
Key Words: stigma, open ear hearing aids
Submitted on May 10, 2005
Accepted on September 17, 2005
This article has been cited by other articles:
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M. I. Wallhagen The Stigma of Hearing Loss Gerontologist, July 10, 2009; (2009) gnp107v1. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
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