Part II: Evaluation of professional functioning 103 Table 2. Baseline characteristics of the included employees at two audiological centers (AC1 and AC2) Age Gender BHI in dB HL Hearing loss since Hearing aids Educational level Profession Working hours per week Auditory work demands Listening effort AC1 58 female 37.2 6-10 years yes University Team leader 32 15 13 58 male 56.6 6-10 years yes General secondary Entrepreneur 60 18 17 52 male 55.0 2-5 years yes General secondary Draftsman 32 9 10 64 female 44.1 >10 years yes Intermediate vocational Harvest worker 20 18 15 AC2 50 female 59.4 2-5 years yes Higher vocational HR employee 36 15 9 59 female 56.4 >10 years yes Intermediate vocational Doctor’s assistant 28 20 14 58 male 38.6 0-1 year no General intermediate Mason 40 14 5 49 female 45.0 >10 years yes General secondary Admin. assisstant 32 10 8 56 female 45.3 6-10 years yes University Nurse 40 19 10 BHI indicates Binaural Hearing Impairment and is calculated by averaging the pure-tone thresholds at 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz favoring the better ear. Table 3. Questionnaire scores and benefits in the communication strategies, personal adjustments, and need for recovery before (T0) and after (T1) participating in a communication group-training Communication strategies Personal adjustments Need for recovery T0 T1 Change score T0 T1 Change score T0 T1 Change score AC1 AC1 68 75 7* 46 58 12* 44 50 6 70 64 -6 40 35 -5 33 33 0 60 62 2* 51 50 -1 50 39 -11* 50 62 12* 29 32 3* 39 67 28 AC2 AC2 52 66 14* 52 56 4* 72 61 -11* 45 61 16* 23 47 24* 61 39 -22* 38 63 25* 39 38 -1 44 78 34 55 56 1* 37 54 17* 44 33 -11* 58 76 18* 46 59 13* 39 39 0 * Compared to the score at T0, a more favorable score was obtained at T1
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