%0 Journal Article
%T The Relationship between Personality Type and Acceptable Noise Levels: A Pilot Study
%A Cliff Franklin
%A Laura V. Johnson
%A Letitia White
%A Clay Franklin
%A Laura Smith-Olinde
%J ISRN Otolaryngology
%D 2013
%R 10.1155/2013/902532
%X Objectives. This study examined the relationship between acceptable noise level (ANL) and personality. ANL is the difference between a personĄ¯s most comfortable level for speech and the loudest level of background noise they are willing to accept while listening to speech. Design. Forty young adults with normal hearing participated. ANLs were measured and two personality tests (Big Five Inventory, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) were administered. Results. The analysis revealed a correlation between ANL and the openness and conscientious personality dimensions from the Big Five Inventory; no correlation emerged between ANL and the Myers-Briggs personality types. Conclusions. Lower ANLs are correlated with full-time hearing aid use and the openness personality dimension; higher ANLs are correlated with part-time or hearing aid nonuse and the conscientious personality dimension. Current data suggest that those more open to new experiences may accept more noise and possibly be good hearing aid candidates, while those more conscientious may accept less noise and reject hearing aids, based on their unwillingness to accept background noise. Knowing something about a personĄ¯s personality type may help audiologists determine if their patients will likely be good candidates for hearing aids. 1. Background Many factors may influence a personĄ¯s success with hearing aids, for example, sound processing by the aid and the presence of background noise. However, the factors that underlie the hearing aid wearerĄ¯s perception of success and benefit are not fully understood. For example, Hutchinson et al. [1] reported that two people with the same type and degree of hearing loss and no prior experience with hearing aids can perceive hearing aid benefit differently. To clinically assess patientsĄ¯ perceptions of hearing aid benefit, the subjective Client Oriented Scale of Improvement (COSI [2]) and the Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit (APHAB [3]) have been available for over 15 years and are widely used by audiologists. Other research has focused on clinical variables that can be manipulated such as counseling, the fitting process, type of hearing aid, compression circuitry, and other hearing instrument adjustments. While these modifications can help give wearers more objectively measureable benefit with hearing aids, there are still some who feel that they never achieve success with hearing aids [4¨C6]. In light of such research findings, it seems reasonable to think there may be as yet unidentified wearer-related variables that affect a personĄ¯s perceived
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn.otolaryngology/2013/902532/