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Williams, Natalie Jade (2020) Valuing hearing-related changes in health-related quality of life. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham.

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Abstract

Within healthcare systems different areas of healthcare compete for limited resources. Allocating resources across healthcare programmes efficiently requires accurate, verifiable, robust methods. To ensure optimum resource allocations health conditions must be evaluated, taking into account their effects on quality of life, and the cost of receiving treatments. However, before a health state can be evaluated it must first be described to the individual valuing it, in order for an individual to know exactly what they are evaluating. With hearing loss, as with many other medical conditions, it is difficult to describe the impact of having a hearing loss on quality of life, either using general health dimensions or with words alone. This research aims to explore alternative methods of describing hearing-related heath states that have been prompted by recent advances in health valuation.

Nine experiments were carried out in order to achieve this goal. Experiment 1 aimed to validate the use of acoustic simulations to describe health states related to hearing and Experiment 2 validated their ability to recreate the listening difficulties reported by those with single-sided deafness (SSD). After alterations to the simulations Experiment 3 revalidated the ability of simulations to recreate the listening difficulties reported by those with SSD. Experiment 4 and 5 evaluated whether engagement with simulations is required and whether a simulation of no hearing loss should be provided as a comparator to hearing loss simulations. Experiment 6 assessed whether simulated hearing loss had differential effects depending on whether it supplemented with a detailed written description of the effects of that hearing loss on the health state. Experiment 7 examined whether acoustic simulations could convey the effects of an intervention, specifically the effect of cochlear implant. Experiment 8 assessed the feasibility of collecting health state valuation data on a large scale via a web-based interface. Finally, Experiment 9 aimed to identify other possible situations to holistically describe an SSD-related health state from a patient’s perspective.

Simulations of hearing loss appear to be a valid and reliable method for describing hearing-related health states, with broad potential to benefit other health states and areas such as education about hearing loss effects. Further research should explore these alternative uses so that this resource can be utilised to its full potential

Item Type:	Thesis (University of Nottingham only) (PhD)
Supervisors:	Kitterick, Pádraig T. Akeroyd, Michael A. Pierzycki, Robert
Keywords:	Hearing loss; Quality of life; Health valuation; Hearing-related health states
Subjects:	W Medicine and related subjects (NLM Classification) > WV Otolaryngology
Faculties/Schools:	UK Campuses > Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > School of Medicine
Item ID:	61105
Depositing User:	Williams, Natalie
Date Deposited:	20 Oct 2023 08:44
Last Modified:	20 Oct 2023 08:44
URI:	https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/61105

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