Purpose

Many individuals with hearing loss do not receive adequate hearing healthcare. Given their close and long-term relationships with patients, primary care providers (PCPs) could play a vital role in improving access to hearing healthcare. Unfortunately, hearing loss is often underdiagnosed in primary care settings, because hearing screening is not a routine part of primary care visits, and the responsibility often falls on the patient or family to recognize and address the issue. The investigators propose to pilot test the use of text message reminders to encourage elderly patients to discuss hearing assessment with there PCPs. The study objectives are to: 1) design an automated text-messaging reminder system; 2) assess the feasibility of deploying the intervention in a clinical trial setting; and 3) evaluate whether the intervention increases willingness to seek hearing healthcare.