Analysing use of the Chinese HHIE-S for hearing screening of elderly in a northeastern industrial area of China

Abstract

Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate the use of Chinese version of HHIE-S as a hearing screening tool for the elderly in an industrial area in northeast China. Design: Prevalence, sensitivity and specificity of Chinese version of HHIE-S were calculated. Factors that had impact on HHIE-S were analysed. Study sample: Five hundred and seventy Mandarin speaking participants, aged from 50 to 85 years were included. They were tested with pure tone audiometry and Chinese version of HHIE-S. Results: The prevalence of hearing handicap was 55.3%. The sensitivity and specificity of HHIE-S were 84.5% and 58.3% respectively when the pass/fail criteria were set at PTA0.5–4kHz >40 dBHL. In general, HHIE-S total and subscale scores were significantly associated with severity of hearing impairment. After stratified by severity of hearing impairment, both the prevalence of reported handicap and the scores of HHIE-S were not significantly associated with age. Male participants had significantly higher HHIE-S scores than female participants did. Conclusions: The Chinese version of HHIE-S contributes useful information to identifying hearing handicap and addressing the rehabilitative needs in the elderly in an industrial city in Mainland China.