Adult Group Aural Rehabilitation and Outcome Measures: A Review of the Literature

Abstract

Due to challenges with speech and communication, adult-onset hearing loss can significantly reduce one’s quality of life. The stigma that is attached to hearing loss often causes individuals with hearing loss to feel ashamed or embarrassed. However, when individuals share their struggles of living with hearing loss in a safe and encouraging group, they learn to understand their experiences and emotions better. Additionally, in groups like these where most members have a hearing impairment, they face the same stigma, and hearing loss becomes the norm. Through group aural rehabilitation (AR), individuals participate in many activities – training in communication strategies and speech perception, solving problems, and exercises in stress reduction, to name a few. Because of group AR, participants take away the knowledge that they are not alone in their experiences, establish healthier coping mechanisms, and become empowered. This paper presents a literature review of adult group aural rehabilitation programs, specifically the outcome measures used as well as demographics information. Five databases were searched and from the total of 2,566 articles, 24 articles met the inclusion criteria for this review. Due to the large variety of outcome measures used, they were grouped into several categories: activity limitations, communication difficulties, hearing aid usage and satisfaction, changes in mental health, quality of life, and benefits to communication partners/significant others. Outcome measures have a tremendous purpose in clinical practice, as they aid in facilitating communication, shared decision-making, and tracking responses and gauging success of group AR.