Free News in Brief | July 01, 2017 Hearing Assistance May Improve Doctor-Patient Encounters Author Notes © 2017 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Article Information Hearing & Speech Perception / News in Brief News in Brief | July 01, 2017 Hearing Assistance May Improve Doctor-Patient Encounters The ASHA Leader, July 2017, Vol. 22, 12. doi:10.1044/leader.NIB1.22072017.12 The ASHA Leader, July 2017, Vol. 22, 12. doi:10.1044/leader.NIB1.22072017.12 View Article Figures Tables Supplemental Data Supplements Multimedia Share Email Twitter Facebook Pinterest Tools Get Citation Citation Hearing Assistance May Improve Doctor-Patient Encounters. The ASHA Leader, 22(7), 12. doi: 10.1044/leader.NIB1.22072017.12. Download citation file: RIS (Zotero) EndNote BibTex Medlars ProCite RefWorks Reference Manager © 2018 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association × Alerts User Alerts You are adding an alert for: Hearing Assistance May Improve Doctor-Patient Encounters You will receive an email whenever this article is corrected, updated, or cited in the literature. You can manage this and all other alerts in My Account The alert will be sent to: Confirm × Sign In or Create a free account to receive alerts. × The quality of communication between doctors and their older patients affects the patients’ quality of care, but most research on doctor-patient communication usually overlooks hearing impairment—a prevalent, important and remediable influence on the quality of doctor-patient communication. New York University researchers reviewed published studies on doctor-patient communication that involved patients at least 60 years old. Only 16 of the 67 studies (23.9 percent) included any mention of hearing loss. Four studies specifically excluded people with hearing loss. Three studies reported an association between hearing loss and quality of care, but researchers in only one of those studies offered any kind of hearing assistance to see if it would improve communication. Not surprisingly, that one study found that hearing assistance improved patients’ understanding. The findings, published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, suggest that adding strategies to enhance communication (see “Amplifying Patient Care”) can improve the quality of clinical encounters. An accompanying editorial suggests that these strategies can be low- or no-cost and simple, such as minimizing ambient noise, speaking face-to-face, and printing patient education materials in large print. 0 Comments Submit a Comment Submit A Comment Name Comment Title Comment Could not validate captcha. Please try again. You have entered an invalid code Submit Cancel Thank you for submitting a comment on this article. Close This feature is available to Subscribers Only Sign In or Create an Account × FROM THIS ISSUE July 2017 Volume 22, Issue 7 ‹ Issue › ADVERTISING DISCLAIMER|ADVERTISE WITH US Related Articles In Memoriam: Thomas J. Hixon, PhD Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, August 2009, Vol. 52, 826. doi:10.1044/1092-4388(2009/im0713) Letter to the Editor American Journal of Audiology, March 1994, Vol. 3, 90. doi:10.1044/1059-0889.0301.90a Estimating Nonorganic Hearing Thresholds Using Binaural Auditory Stimuli American Journal of Audiology, December 2017, Vol. 26, 486-495. doi:10.1044/2017_AJA-16-0096 Combined Effects of Noise and Reverberation on Sound Localization for Listeners With Normal Hearing and Bilateral Cochlear Implants American Journal of Audiology, December 2017, Vol. 26, 519-530. doi:10.1044/2017_AJA-16-0101 Promoting Hearing Health Collaboration Through an Interprofessional Education Experience American Journal of Audiology, December 2017, Vol. 26, 570-575. doi:10.1044/2017_AJA-17-0040 ADVERTISING DISCLAIMER|ADVERTISE WITH US Related Topics Hearing & Speech Perception