About m2Hear

Background

Hearing aids help overcome hearing loss, but can be difficult to use and maintain, and do not offer 'perfect' hearing. Many people know little about hearing aids, therefore many hearing aids are abandoned or underused. Not wearing hearing aids means that difficulties listening and talking to others will continue, which can lead to social isolation.

What have we done previously?

We have previously worked with hearing aid users to produce multimedia videos about how best to use hearing aids and to communicate well. These videos are called C2Hear, and a short introduction to them can be found here. A large research study we ran showed that the C2Hear videos improve knowledge of hearing aids and communication, how to handle hearing aids, and increase hearing aid use.

What is new in this research?

We have further developed C2Hear for use with mobile devices (e.g. tablets, smartphones) and included activities to create greater interactivity. These new short, 1 minute videos, called m2Hear, can be tailored to meet the ‘on-the-go’ needs of individual people. We wish to trial m2Hear with first-time hearing aid users to provide essential information to help them get the most out of their new hearing aids.

What is involved?

After 10 weeks we will find out how m2Hear helped our study participants to use their hearing aids in their everyday lives, and how m2Hear improved their knowledge, confidence and participation in social and other situations.

Where to next?

If successful, we will make m2Hear freely available to the public, patients and hearing professionals in the UK and internationally.

Who are we?

We are a multi-disciplinary research team with expertise in clinical audiology, hearing research, e-health and e-learning, health behaviour psychology. The research is being led by NIHR Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre, and is funded by the Department of Health’s National Institute for Health Research.

m2Hear: a mobile hearing solution that is individualised, interactive and inclusive.

Contact:

If you have any problems or with to give any feedback, please contact the researchers at the NIHR Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre

Dr David Maidment (david.maidment@nottingham.ac.uk)

Dr Melanie Ferguson (melanie.ferguson@nottingham.ac.uk)

Or telephone them at the NIHR Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre on 0115 8232600.