Relationship between cognitive anxiety level and client variables at initial consultation for adults with hearing impairment

• Assessed relationship between cognitive, state anxiety and audiometric variables for adults with hearing impairment at initial consultation.
• Compared levels of cognitive, state anxiety between hearing aid adopters and non-adopters.
• Levels of cognitive, state anxiety were related to an ability to understand speech in noise and self-perceived disease-specific quality of life.
• Levels of cognitive, state anxiety were higher for hearing aid adopters than for non-adopters.

The purpose of this study was to use the Cognitive Anxiety Scale (CAS) to investigate relationships between state-anxiety level (cognitive anxiety) and audiometric variables in adults with hearing impairment at their initial consultation. Thirty-five adults with hearing impairment who consulted an audiologist for the first time participated in this study. An interview to obtain information about cognitive anxiety was conducted prior to the audiological assessment. The results indicated that cognitive anxiety was significantly related to an ability to understand speech in noise. Further, cognitive anxiety and ability to understand speech in noise significantly contributed to the classification of hearing aid adopters and non-adopters.These results indicate that the measure of cognitive anxiety may have clinical applications in the future.Learning outcomes: The reader will be able to: (1) discuss the relationship between anxiety and hearing impairment; (2) define cognitive anxiety; (3) state the relationship between cognitive anxiety and audiometric variables; (4) state the relationship between cognitive anxiety and the decision to adopt hearing aids; (5) identify signs of cognitive anxiety in adults with hearing impairment.