Effect of a Community Health Worker-Delivered Personal Sound Amplification Device on Self-Perceived Communication Function in Older Adults With Hearing Loss: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Age-related hearing loss that impairs daily communication is associated with adverse health outcomes, but use of hearing aids by older adults is low and disparities exist.

Objective: To test whether an affordable, accessible hearing care intervention, delivered by community health workers using over-the-counter hearing technology, could improve self-perceived communication function among older adults with hearing loss compared with a wait-list control.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Open-label randomized clinical trial conducted between April 2018 and October 2019 with 3-month data collection completed in June 2020.