Change in Self-Evaluation of Hearing Status According to Age: A Population-Based Study

Abstract

Background and Objectives Self-reported hearing levels determined by self-report questionnaires are not always correlated with the audiometric hearing level. It is necessary to ascertain the subjectively perceived normal hearing threshold to determine the need for hearing aids at the appropriate time. The objective is to identify the level of correlation between the self-reported hearing level and the audiometric hearing level and ascertain the subjectively perceived normal hearing threshold for each age group.Subjects and Method This cross-sectional study, using the data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey V, looked at participants with hearing loss who were aged ≥40 years. Pure tone audiometry was conducted bilaterally. Self-reported hearing level was ascertained via survey enquiring about hearing loss. The level of correlation between self-reported hearing level and audiometric hearing level, age-specific patterns of hear-ing self-evaluation and subjectively perceived normal hearing values at which participants complained of hearing loss were main outcomes.Results Mean audiometric thresholds (MATs) increased with the age and degree of self-reported hearing level. The accuracy of self-reported hearing level compared to the audiometric threshold decreased with age both in the better-ear and worse-ear groups. Younger participants tended to overestimate their hearing impairment, while older participants tended to underestimate it. Subjectively perceived normal hearing thresholds increased with age and they were very close to the MATs for each age group.Conclusion Results can be useful for devising different age-group specific pure tone audi-ometry-based diagnostic criteria for self-reported hearing loss, which can be used to determine the need for hearing aid in a timely manner.