OBJECTIVE: The goal was to measure quality of life (QOL) and hearing-specif
ic functional status before and after treatment of conductive hearing loss
(CHL).
STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: A prospective, longitudinal, outcomes-based study
was performed at an academic medical center.
RESULTS: Mean baseline QOL scores in CHL patients were comparable with thos
e of the general population. Audiometric studies indicated significant impr
ovements in hearing threshold in all treated patients. There was no signifi
cant improvement in mean global QOL scores after treatment of CHL, although
there was little room for improvement over baseline. The hearing-specific
instrument did demonstrate significant improvements in emotional and social
/situational hearing status after treatment. Patients treated with hearing
aids had poorer baseline QOL and hearing status than patients treated with
surgery and tended to show declines in QOL and only partial improvement in
hearing-specific functional status after treatment.
CONCLUSIONS: Treatment of CHL resulted in improvements in hearing-specific
functional status, although changes were difficult to detect with a global
QOL instrument.