Nondisabled people frequently feel uncomfortable with or avoid physically disabled people. One purpose of the study was to assess people's responses to a confederate who used a hearing aid. A second purpose was to assess responses to the confederate when he wore a more a more effective and much more conspicuous hearing device. The third purpose was to see if volunteering an explanation of the hearing device would result in a less negative response than that found without an explanation. The participants were 80 male undergraduates. They interacted with the confederate, a male undergraduate whose hearing was normal, in an interview situation. There were no differences among the hearing impaired conditions, or between the hearing impaired conditions and a nondisabled control condition, on any of these variables: distance from the confederate, delay before initiating conversation when left alone with the confederate, length of the interview, and impression ratings of the confederate. These results suggest that people do not avoid or feel uncomfortable with a person who uses a hearing aid or a larger hearing device. Because participants did not respond negatively to the large hearing device when no explanation was offered, the possible benefits of voluntarily explaining the device could not be assessed.

According to the CDC, one in three children per thousand are diagnosed with hearing loss. Educational professionals should be familiar with the care, use, and maintenance of the various hearing devices available for students with hearing loss. Due to a shortage of audiological personnel in the educational setting, teachers are increasingly filling the role of hearing specialists. Minimal educational resources are available for educators online, or they are not easily accessible. Therefore, we investigated if a one-time ZOOM workshop for educators would improve their self-efficacy as it relates to the care, use, and maintenance of these devices. To determine whether the professionals' self-efficacy improved, participants were emailed identical survey questionnaires both before and after attending an in-depth ZOOM workshop. The workshop covered the following topics related to hearing devices: an overview of the auditory system, device battery care and use, parts, and functions, as well as how to power devices on and off. Results of the post-test ( M= 36.53, SD = 8.36) were significantly higher than the pre-test (M= 25.77, SD = 7.23), p = < 0.0001 indicating a significant increase in self-efficacy skills for the educational professionals. Further analysis to determine differences across survey questions and educational professional demographics is underway. Access to educational materials and understanding care and use of hearing devices is critical to improving the confidence of educational professionals seeking to provide care to their students with hearing loss.