A Survey of the Hearing in the Elderly ≥ 80 Years of Age — Provided with Hearing Aids

Abstract

This contribution forms part of an epidemiological study of the hearing in the elderly ≥ 80 years of age and describes some of the rehabilitative aspects. The sample is defined according to an age ≥ 80 years of age, living in the Valby district at the time of data collection (November 1993), and provided with a hearing aid (HA) during this period 1988-1993. All information in this part of the survey is obtained from the records in the Department. The overall prevalence of HA provision was 30% (n = 859/2915) with no differences as a function of gender. The prevalence of HA provision indicated an increase from 20% at the age of 80-84 to 61% at an age of ≥ 95 years of age. Among the sample, 42% were first-time applicants, whereas 58% were experienced users. The better and worse ear hearing level, averaged across 0.5-4 kHz, showed significantly poorer hearing in the experienced users compared to the inexperienced users; however, there were no significant differences as a function of 5-year age bands. In the inexperienced users a moderate hearing loss of 43-49dB was found in the better ear hearing, averaged across 0.5-4kHz. The average across 4-8 kHz showed significantly poorer hearing in males compared to females, which is compatible with the poorer speech recognition score in background noise (S/N = 10 dB) (SRSN) in males. An immediate benefit of HA provision was found in these elderly subjects, the majority obtained a benefit of 12-32%, measured by SRSN. It is concluded that the prevalence of 30% of HA provision is incompatible with the high prevalence of about 50% of hearing problems, indicated at the defined age, and that additional epidemiological data are needed.