Policy Brief: Issue 45: Providing hearing aids alone is not enough After-provision services must also improve

People with hearing loss who are registered under the Universal Health Coverage scheme areeligible to receive hearing aids from hospitals free-of-charge. However, the costs associated with this policy after having received the hearing aids must still be borne by users such as hearing aid maintenance, travel for follow-up sessions, and batteries. A study about hearing aid use in people with hearing loss and subsequent services provided after distributing hearing aids under the Universal Health Coverage scheme found that almost one-third of these people discontinued usage prior to the device’s life expectancy, and nearly one-fourth of them did not attend follow-up sessions. One reason for this is that the conditions for providing hearing aid services were not consistent with actual use. Therefore, service recipients are recommended to improve guidelines for providing hearing aid services such as increasing the number of service points for ease of access, providing multiple models to address actual needs instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, and updating conditions for providing services, i.e. increasing the warranty period, and subsidizing costs associated with services provision to maximize hearing aid use and benefits while preventing discontinuation of usage in the future.