Table 4.
Demographic characteristics of participants in the randomised prescription trial. Independent Samples t tests were used to compare the cognitive ability (WNV) scores and age at hearing aid fitting between the two prescription groups. Chi-square tests were used to compare the percentage differences between the two prescription groups on gender, presence of additional disabilities, and degree of hearing loss.
| Characteristics | NAL group (n=89) |
DSL group (n=74) |
Difference p value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gender (Male) | |||
| No. (percentage) | 57 (64.0%) | 40 (54.1%) | 0.64 |
| Presence of additional disabilities (AD) | |||
| No. (percentage) | 30 (33.7%) | 22 (29.7%) | 0.99 |
| Age at hearing aid fitting (months) | |||
| Mean (SD) | 11.2 (10.7) | 10.0 (10.5) | |
| Median | 6.0 | 4.0 | 0.49 |
| Interquartile range | 3.0–17.0 | 2.0–18.8 | |
| Degree of Hearing Loss* (4FA HL in better ear) | |||
| No. (percentage):Mild (≤ 40 dB): | 20 (22.5%) | 23 (31.1%) | |
| No. (percentage): Moderate (41–60 dB) | 51 (57.3%) | 36 (48.6%) | 0.43 |
| No. (percentage): Severe (61–80 dB) | 18 (20.2%) | 15 (20.3%) | |
| Cognitive ability (WNV)@ | |||
| N | 76 | 63 | |
| Mean (SD) | 100.9(17.2) | 104.1(16.0) | 0.24 |
| Median | 100.0 | 105.0 | |
| Interquartile range (IQR) | 91.0–116.0 | 95.5–116.5 |
Note:
*
4FA HL= Four frequency average hearing loss (average of hearing threshold levels at 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz).
@
WNV = Wechsler Non-Verbal Full Scale IQ. Due to missing data, scores are based on the numbers of participants as specified.