The role of expectations in hearing aid counseling

Shelley Elizabeth Bassham, Purdue University

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether expectations of hearing aid performance could be influenced experimentally. Subjects were provided with fabricated descriptions of hearing aid processed speech stimuli. These samples were differentially described as having been recorded through technologically advanced hearing aids or standard instruments of limited potential. Twenty-two subjects received the script denoting high performance followed by the script indicative of standard performance. For the remaining 22 subjects, script order was reversed. Mean subjective quality ratings served as the dependent measure. The statistical tests applied showed that perceptual judgments differed as a consequence of script order and condition (i.e., quiet or noise). Subjects receiving the high performance script first found that the product did not meet their expectations; samples recorded with the addition of background competition received the lowest subjective quality ratings. With script order reversed, subjects were less critical of the samples recorded in the noise condition. In the quiet condition, however, neither product description nor the order in which the scripts were presented had an effect on perceptual judgments. The study participants assigned similar ratings to the speech samples recorded in the quiet condition. The results suggest that when expectations are raised through overstatement of product performance, consumers will expect technologically advanced hearing aids to have the capability of reproducing sounds they want to hear and rejecting all sounds they do not want to hear. Consequently, extreme care must be taken to avoid messages which overstate the capabilities of the product and to adequately prepare patients for hearing aid performance in acoustically challenging environments. Expectations were not influenced in the direction predicted with the provision of descriptions of hearing aid processed speech. The literature suggests, however, that expectations contribute to postpurchase product evaluations, serving as a baseline measure for satisfaction judgments. The magnitude of this contribution is yet unknown for the complex product utilized in this study. Therefore, the results presented here must be considered preliminary. Future research efforts should investigate various product and service attributes, weighing each by its respective importance score, to determine how hearing-impaired consumers arrive at satisfaction decisions.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Goldstein, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Audiology|Rehabilitation|Therapy

COinS