Quality of life among Elderly Hearing Impairment (Presbycusis) at Benha City

Abstract

Background: Hearing impairment (Presbycusis) is the third most prevalent chronic disease in theelderly, and it affects their quality of life. Aim: this study aimed to assess the quality of life amongelderly hearing impairment (Presbycusis) at Benha City. Research design: A descriptive designwas used. Setting: The study was conducted at Auditory Unit in Benha University Hospital andBenha Teaching Hospital. Sample: A purposive sample consisted of 100 elderly diagnosed withhearing impairment. Tools: Two tools were used include; (1) a structured interviewingquestionnaire; it was composed of four parts: Socio-demographic characteristics, medical history,and knowledge regarding hearing impairment, (2) Quality of life of elderly with hearingimpairment. Results: Most of the elderly people suffered from chronic diseases and the mostcommon disease was hypertension, more than half of them had impairment in both ears, most ofthem had satisfactory level of knowledge, about two thirds had high score of total quality of life,and finally most of them had high score of total hearing impairment handicapping. Conclusion:Fortunately, the results revealed high total quality of life score and satisfactory level of knowledgeamong elderly. On other hand, most of them suffered from highly hearing impairmenthandicapping. Recommendations: Programs and studies should be done for teaching copingstrategies for elderly with Presbycusis; this may have a positive impact on the quality of life ofolder people.