Trial reportBMC medicine2022
Effects of providing free hearing aids on multiple health outcomes among middle-aged and older adults with hearing loss in rural China: a randomized controlled trial.
Trial report in BMC medicine, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 23 citations in OpenAlex.
- Research progress on exosomes in the otology field: a systematic review.Stem cell research & therapy · 2025Pooled it
- Interventions to improve social network in older people with sensory impairment: a systematic review.Aging clinical and experimental research · 2024Pooled it
- Effectiveness of the active communication education program in improving the general quality of life of older adults who use hearing aids: a randomized clinical trial.BMC geriatrics · 2024Trial
- Associations between hearing and vision impairment and type 2 diabetes among middle-aged and older chinese adults: a nationwide longitudinal cohort study.Journal of health, population, and nutrition · 2026Observational
- Hearing Loss, Cognitive Decline, and Dementia: Clinical Intersections.Audiology research · 2026Review
- Navigating Aging with Technology: A Scoping Review of Digital Interventions Addressing Intrinsic Capacity Decline in Older Adults.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Cost-Effectiveness of Hearing Aids in South Korea: A Multistate Markov Model Analysis.Clinical and experimental otorhinolaryngology · 2025Article
- Evaluating the Effectiveness of Community-Delivered Hearing Rehabilitation and Health Education Intervention on Social Isolation and Functioning Among Chinese Adults With Hearing Impairment: Protocol for Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2025Article
- Economic burden due to hearing loss among individuals in Hebei, China.BMC public health · 2025Article
- The global prevalence of complete hearing loss in 204 countries and territories from 1992 to 2021: a systematic analysis for the global burden of disease study 2021.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Hearing loss, social isolation and depression in participants aged 50 years or over in Tasmania, Australia.Australasian journal on ageing · 2024Article
- Age-related hearing loss in older adults: etiology and rehabilitation strategies.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2024Review
- Optimizing age-related hearing risk predictions: an advanced machine learning integration with HHIE-S.BioData mining · 2023Article
- Hearing handicaps, communication difficulties and depression in the older adults: a comparison of hearing aid users and non-users.European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology : official journal of the European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology - Head and Neck Surgery · 2023Article
- Direct economic burden attributable to age-related diseases in China: An econometric modelling study.Journal of global health · 2023Article
- Impacts of the hearing aid intervention on healthcare utilization and costs among middle-aged and older adults: results from a randomized controlled trial in rural China.The Lancet regional health. Western Pacific · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundHearing loss has been associated with serious health problems around the globe. Previous studies have found the positive effects of fitting hearing aids on health, but few studies were conducted in developing countries. The aim of this study is to examine the effects of hearing aids on multiple health outcomes among middle-aged and older adults with hearing loss in rural China.
methodsIn this randomized controlled trial (RCT), participants aged 45 and above were randomly assigned to the treatment group prescribing with hearing aids or to the control group with no intervention. Trial outcomes for 385 participants were collected during the 20-month follow-up study. Using the difference-in-difference approach, our primary outcomes were hearing-related quality of life (QoL) and generic QoL.
resultsThe intervention led to improvements in hearing-related QoL, presenting as the reduction in Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly Screening Version (HHIE-S) scores (interaction coefficient = - 2.86, p = 0.005), HHIE-S-Emotional scores (interaction coefficient = - 1.42, p = 0.029), and HHIE-S-Situational scores (interaction coefficient = - 1.43, p = 0.007). The intervention was also effective in alleviating the increase in depressive symptoms (interaction coefficient = - 0.14, p = 0.042). Subgroup analysis revealed that the effects were only shown among people with social activities or active social networks.
conclusionsOur study is the first RCT in China to measure the health effects and heterogeneity of hearing aid interventions. Wearing hearing aids can help improve hearing-related QoL and alleviate the increase in depressive symptoms. The intervention is expected to be applicable to similar settings in other developing countries to combat hearing-related health problems.
trial registrationChinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR1900024739 . Registered on 26 July 2019.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.