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Text messages to help new hearing aid users with hearing loss

Tests a text-message program for adults with hearing loss using new hearing aids.

Key facts

Who runs it
WSAUD A/S
Where
United Kingdom3 sites in 1 countryChoose a country to see its sites
Trial code
Registry title
Evaluating an Audiology Text-Message Protocol to Support Hearing Aid Use in NHS Adult Audiology Patients
Status
Recruiting
People taking part
70 people, planned
Started
30 Sept 2025
Expected to end
Dec 2026
Type of study
Interventional, 2 groupsOne group gets no study treatment, for comparison.
Treatments tested
  • Audiology text-message protocol
Record updated
9 March 2026

Who can take part

AI summary

From the trial's eligibility criteria. Machine-read from the registry text on this page, so it can be wrong. The registry text below and the trial team decide who can take part.

The trial is looking for adults with hearing loss who have just been given their first NHS hearing aid(s). It tests whether text messages help people use their hearing aids. Some clinicians will also take part in interviews.

Age
18 years or older, no upper age limit.
Sex
All sexes can join.
Disease stage
Hearing loss as the main concern, with a first NHS acoustic hearing aid (one or two) prescribed.
Earlier treatment
People must be getting their first NHS acoustic hearing aid(s).

Main reasons for not taking part

  • Already signed up to another Florence text-message programme
  • Unable to read or understand English
  • Taking part in similar research now (main study)
  • No access to a mobile phone (main study; a smartphone is not needed)
  • Unable or unwilling to give informed consent

The registry criteria, word for word

Show all 16 criteriaShow less

Who can take part

  • Aged ≥18 years (no upper age limit)
  • Able and willing to provide informed consent

Who cannot take part

  • Aged ≥18 years (no upper age limit)
  • Registered on a pre-existing Florence text-messaging protocol
  • Unable to read/understand English; WP2: Nested Process Evaluation (minimum n=10 patients, n=2 clinicians) Inclusion criteria (patients)
  • Prescribed their first NHS acoustic hearing aid(s) for the primary concern of hearing loss
  • Able and willing to provide informed consent
  • Registered on a pre-existing Florence text-messaging protocol
  • Unable to read/understand English
  • Not meeting criteria for inclusion

Other criteria

  • WP1: Pilot Feasibility Study (n=60, 30 per group intervention/control (treatment as usual)) Inclusion criteria
  • Aged ≥18 years (no upper age limit)
  • Prescribed their first NHS acoustic hearing aid(s) for the primary concern of hearing loss
  • Able and willing to provide informed consent
  • Not currently participating in similar research
  • Access to a mobile device (This is not required to be a smart phone device)

This trial has no sites in United States.

It has sites in one country. Choose a country to see its sites.

About the trial

What the trial wants to find out

Over 18 million adults in the United Kingdom have significant hearing loss, linked to isolation, depression and comorbidities. Hearing aids are the main management option yet are frequently unused (~23%) or used irregularly (<40%), wasting NHS resources and reducing quality-of-life gains. Digital behaviour-change interventions can improve self-management between appointments. Florence, an NHS-endorsed text-messaging system, has been used in the management of other long-term conditions, but has not yet been applied within audiology. This study will test a standardised audiology text-message protocol, delivered via Florence, to support new NHS hearing aid users, aiming to improve adherence, outcomes, and cost-effectiveness. Outcomes assess trial feasibility (primary objective), proof-of concept for efficacy (secondary objective), and process evaluation (tertiary objective).

The 2 groups in the trial

  • Hearing aids plus text-message protocolTreatment being tested

    Audiology text-message protocol: The experimental group will receive a minimum of 65 text-messages directly to their mobile telephone for the duration of the 14-week text-message protocol (2 weeks for Stage 1 protocol, 12 weeks for Stage 2 protocol) in addition to receiving the standard audiology treatment as usual (see Control: Standard audiological care (hearing aid provision - treatment as usual)).

    Treatment: Audiology text-message protocol

  • Standard audiological care (treatment as usual)No study treatment, for comparison

    Participants allocated to the control group will receive treatment as usual. Treatment as usual is defined as standard treatment available to NHS audiology patients. This may include an audiological assessment, prescription of one/two hearing aids, and an optional face-to-face follow-up appointment.

Questions to ask the study team

  1. How often do I need to come in, and for how long each time?
  2. Are travel costs paid?
  3. Can I keep my own doctor?
  4. What happens if I want to stop?

Contact the study team: see the registry record → Contacts and Locations

Print a page for my doctor

Data and sources

Registry record
Listed on ClinicalTrials.gov.
Official title
Audiology Text-Messaging Intervention (Florence) to Improve Hearing Aid Use in NHS Adult Audiology Patients: A Feasibility Study With Proof-of-Concept and Embedded Process Evaluation
Plain-language title
Text messages to help new hearing aid users with hearing lossGenerated from the registry record. The registry title is the official one.
AI summary
From the trial's eligibility criteria. Read by machine on 14 November 2026.
Record updated
9 March 2026