Comparison of Personal Sound Amplification Products and Conventional Hearing Aids for Patients With Hearing Loss: A Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis
EClinicalMedicine
Chen, C. H., Huang, C. Y., et al. (2022).
EClinicalMedicine, 46, 101378.
This systematic review and meta-analysis investigates the benefits of personal sound amplification products versus conventional hearing aids for patients with hearing loss.
Ministry of Science and Technology (Taiwan); Veterans General Hospitals (Taiwan); University System of Taiwan Joint Research Program
From database inception to January 12, 2022
Randomized controlled trials, non-randomized controlled trials, and observational studies
5
Of note, the limitations to this review include an overall paucity of literature, low methodological rigor, significant risk of bias within included studies, and small sample sizes. Findings should be interpreted with caution. Findings of 5 observational studies demonstrated no significant difference in personal sound amplification productions (PSAPs) versus hearing aids (Has) overall in speech intelligence, sound quality comparison, and listening effort. When comparing PSAPs to basic and premium HAs, PSAPs were associated with greater speech intelligence in comparison to basic HAs, and basic HAs were associated with reduces listening effort when participants with moderately severe hearing loss were excluded. All other comparisons were nonsignificant. Further high-quality research is needed to determine the superiority of PSAPs versus HAs.
