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Health-Related Quality of Life Benefits with Hearing Aids, in partnership with the American Academy of Audiology

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1.  Which statement best defines health-related quality of life (HRQoL)?
  1. A patient's satisfaction with their hearing aid device and audiologist
  2. A multidimensional construct encompassing physical, mental, and social well-being as affected by health status
  3. The degree of hearing improvement measured by pure-tone audiometry
  4. The cost-effectiveness of a medical intervention compared to no treatment
2.  Why is health-related quality of life (HRQoL) considered an important assessment domain for hearing healthcare interventions?
  1. It provides objective data that replaces the need for audiometric testing
  2. It captures the broader impact of hearing loss and interventions on daily functioning beyond acoustic measures
  3. It is required for Medicare reimbursement for hearing aid dispensing
  4. It eliminates the need for real-ear measurement verification
3.  What is the primary advantage of using a disease-specific health-related quality of life (HRQoL) measure in hearing aid outcome research?
  1. It has been validated in more diverse populations than generic measures
  2. It allows for direct comparison of hearing loss with other chronic conditions like diabetes
  3. It is more sensitive to changes in communication-related function
  4. It requires less time for patients to complete than generic measures
4.  What was a key methodological limitation of the Chisolm et al. (2007) systematic review?
  1. It excluded studies published in non-English languages
  2. It only included randomized controlled trials
  3. It relied primarily on studies using unaided baseline measures in within-subject experimental designs rather than control groups
  4. It did not conduct a meta-analysis
5.  What was one of the ways that Johnson et al. (2026) improved upon the methodology of Chisolm et al. (2007)?
  1. By including studies with pediatric populations
  2. By employing a library scientist who developed search strategies that reflected a broad definition of HRQoL for databases
  3. By limiting the review to studies conducted only in the United States
  4. By excluding generic HRQoL measures to focus solely on disease-specific tools
6.  Which type of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) measure did Chisolm et al. (2007) find to be more commonly used in hearing aid outcome studies?
  1. Disease-specific measures
  2. Generic measures
  3. Utility measures
  4. Preference-based measures
7.  What is a key difference between the findings of Chisolm et al. (2007) and Johnson et al. (2026) regarding the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) benefits of hearing aid use?
  1. Johnson et al. (2026) found no significant benefits while Chisolm et al.(2007) did
  2. Johnson et al. (2026) rated the evidence in favor of hearing aids as Grade A while Chisolm et al. (2007) found a B rating
  3. Chisolm et al. (2007) included more recent research studies
  4. Johnson et al. (2026) focused exclusively on bilateral fittings while Chisolm et al. (2007) included unilateral fittings
8.  When counseling a patient about expected health-related quality of life (HRQoL) benefits from hearing aids, which statement reflects appropriate integration of statistical significance and clinical meaningfulness?
  1. "The research shows statistically significant improvements, so you will definitely notice major life changes."
  2. "The benefits are small and not statistically significant, so hearing aids likely won't help you."
  3. "Research demonstrates measurable improvements in quality of life, though individual experiences vary and benefits may be modest in some domains."
  4. "Since the studies used generic measures, the findings don't apply to your specific hearing loss."
9.  A patient asks whether hearing aid use will improve their overall quality of life. Based on systematic review evidence, what is the most accurate counseling statement?
  1. "Hearing aid use primarily improves hearing ability but it doesn’t affect health-related quality of life (HRQoL)."
  2. "Evidence supports that hearing aid use provides health-related quality of life (HRQoL) benefits beyond just improved audibility, including social and emotional well-being."
  3. "Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) only improves if you wear your hearing aids at least 12 hours per day."
  4. "Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) improvements only occur in patients with severe-to-profound SNHL who use hearing aids."
10.  When interpreting meta-analytic findings for clinical practice, what is an important consideration regarding prediction intervals?
  1. Small prediction intervals are never clinically meaningful to patients
  2. Prediction intervals do not matter if they cross the zero line on the standardized scale because it is indicative of statistical nonsignificance
  3. Prediction intervals that cross the zero line on the standardized scale indicate that there are some select cases where the intervention does not produce the intended outcome
  4. Prediction intervals from meta-analyses cannot be applied to individual patient counseling