Knoetze, Megan ClarissaBeukes, Eldre W.Manchaiah, VinayaOosthuizen, IlzeSwanepoel, De Wet2024-04-122024-12Knoetze, M., Beukes, E., Manchaiah, V. et al. 2024, 'Reasons for hearing aid uptake in the United States: a qualitative analysis of open-text responses from a large-scale survey of user-perspectives', International Journal of Audiology, vol. 63, no. 12, pp. 975-986, doi : 10.1080/14992027.2023.2279513.1499-2027 (print)1708-8186 (online)10.1080/14992027.2023.2279513http://hdl.handle.net/2263/95504DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT : The data analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.OBJECTIVE : This study aimed to explore the main reasons for hearing aid uptake from a user perspective and recommendations to others with hearing difficulties. DESIGN : A cross-sectional survey design was used. Responses to a single open-ended question were analysed using qualitative content analysis. STUDY SAMPLE : Participants (n = 642) included adult hearing aid users sampled from the Hearing Tracker website community and Lexie Hearing user databases in the United States. RESULTS : Participants had a mean age of 65.4 years (13.7 SD) and included 61.8% males, 37.7% females, 0.3% non-binary, and 0.2% preferred not to say. Reasons for hearing aid uptake were categorised into three domains (personal impact, social difficulties, and auditory difficulties), containing 11 main categories and 48 sub-categories. User recommendations to others with hearing difficulties constituted eight main categories (timely help, trial period, support, affordability, technology, direct-to-consumer hearing aids, adjustments, and advocacy) and 32 sub-categories. CONCLUSIONS : The decision to take up hearing aids included intrinsic factors like readiness to change and extrinsic factors such as the availability of finances. The most frequent recommendation to others was not to delay seeking hearing help and to get hearing aids. Our findings may support strategies to facilitate behaviour change for improved hearing aid uptake.en© 2023 British Society of Audiology, International Society of Audiology, and Nordic Audiological Society. This is an electronic version of an article published in International Journal of Audiology, vol. 63, no. 12, pp. 975-986, 2024. doi : 10.1080/14992027.2023.2279513. International Journal of Audiology is available online at : www.tandfonline.com/loi/iija20.Hearing lossHearing aidsHearing aid uptakeHearing help-seekingSDG-03: Good health and well-beingPostprint Article