Self-reported hearing difficulty and hearing Okamoto/Nakanishi/Tatara impairment in Japanese people living in a community

Abstract

Nine hundred and eighteen people aged 40 years and over were examined to assess the relationship between self-reported hearing difficulty and hearing impairment at 1 kHz and 4 kHz during annual health check-ups. After adjustment for potential confounding factors of selfreported hearing difficulty such as age, sex, noise exposure, ear disease and tinnitus, the odds ratios for self-reported hearing difficulty at 1 kHz compared with a hearing threshold of 30 dB were 1.74, 3.37 and 4.97 for hearing thresholds of 40 dB, 50 dB, and over 50 dB, respectively ( p-value for trend = 0.003). At 4 kHz, the respective odds ratios for self-reported hearing difficulty were 1.53, 2.59 and 1.83 ( p-value for trend = 0.012). These results suggest that self-reported hearing difficulty is closely associated with the severity of hearing impairment at 1 kHz and 4 kHz in a community-residing population and that people with hearing impairment at 1 kHz would be more sensitive to their hearing difficulty than those with hearing impairment at 4 kHz.Sumario Novecientas dieciocho personas con edades de 40 an˜os o ma´s fueron evaluadas para establecer la relacio´n entre la dificultad auditiva auto-reportada y un trastorno auditivo real en 1 kHz y 4 kHz, durante sus evaluaciones anuales de salud. Luego de hacer ajustes para posibles factores de confusio´n en el auto-reporte de la dificultad para escuchar, como la edad, el sexo, la exposicio´n al ruido, la enfermedad otolo´gica o el acu´feno, se establecio´ que la razo´n de posibilidades (odds ratio) para la dificultad auditiva en 1 kHz comparada con un umbral auditivo de 30 dB, fue de 1.74, 3.37 y 4.97 para umbrales auditivos de 40 dB, 50 dB y por encima de 50 dB, respectivamente (valor p de la tendencia igual a 0.003). A 4 kHz, las razones de posibilidad respectivas para la dificultad auditiva auto-reportada fueron 1.53, 2.59 y 1.83 (valor p de la tendencia igual a 0.012). Estos resultados sugieren que la dificultad auditiva auto-reportada esta´ estrechamente asociada con la severidad del trastorno auditivo en 1 kHz y en 4 kHz, en una poblacio´n de residentes de una comunidad, y que las personas con trastornos auditivos en 1 kHz seri´an ma´s sensibles a su dificultad auditiva que aquellos con alteraciones en 4 kHz.