Abstract
In the future, an aging of the working population is expected. This also means that age-related impairments of sensory functions like hearing impairment will become more prominent. Based on the growing importance of digitalization the question arises if a mHealth-app could be able to improve the first start experience of possible new hearing aid users and, which functions should be included in such an app. Therefore, an exploratory online study was conducted. The sample consists of 36 men and 65 women (18–65 years old). The results show that participants rated possible functions for the mHealth-app significantly different. Effects of gender or age cannot be shown. In addition, the support of an avatar for the use of the mHealth-app was assessed as rather helpful. Women tend to assess it more helpful than men. Overall, the results can improve the development of a mHealth-app to support new users of hearing aids.
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The authors would like to thank Stephan Barth and Max Deutschle for their support in conducting the study, and all participants who participated.
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The authors state no conflict of interest. Informed consent has been obtained from all participants of the online study. The study was approved by the ethics committee of the Furtwangen University.
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Wagner-Hartl, V., Saat, S.M., Luther, M., Bauer, A.S. (2021). Requirements for a mHealth-App for Hearing Aids. In: Kalra, J., Lightner, N.J., Taiar, R. (eds) Advances in Human Factors and Ergonomics in Healthcare and Medical Devices. AHFE 2021. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 263. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-80744-3_52
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