Personal stories could help patients better understand, manage, and accept their hearing loss.

What is it about?

In hearing health care, clinicians are encouraged to center the person, child, or family in all aspects of care to improve outcomes. One promising—but underused—approach to achieve this is narrative medicine. Narrative medicine prioritizes listening to and working with patients’ stories as a means to improve all aspects of care. While this method is common in fields like oncology and geriatrics, we found little published research in audiology. Our scoping review of the scientific literature identified just three case studies using narrative medicine techniques with people who have hearing loss. These studies showed that helping patients reframe their stories about hearing loss improved their engagement with care and built stronger clinician–patient relationships. The narrative techniques used—such as building, breaking down, and externalizing a patient’s story—also helped individuals better understand and manage their hearing loss.

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Photo by LinkedIn Sales Solutions on Unsplash

Photo by LinkedIn Sales Solutions on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Many people with hearing loss stop using their hearing devices because care often focuses on symptoms—not the person’s lived experience. Narrative medicine invites clinicians to listen more deeply and understand the emotional and social impacts of hearing loss. By shifting to story-based care, audiologists can build stronger relationships with patients, support long-term treatment use, and improve overall satisfaction with care. However, our findings show a gap in the field and suggest a clear path forward: more research is needed to bring narrative medicine into routine audiological care and support clinicians in practicing person- and family-centered care.

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