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Hearing loss in the elderly
Author(s) -
Trumble Stephen C,
Piterman Leon
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1992.tb137252.x
Subject(s) - hearing loss , medicine , audiology
Objective To determine the prevalence of undiagnosed hearing impairment in people aged 60 years or over in a general practice setting. Design A self‐administered questionnaire followed by physical examination and audiometry. Setting A group general practice in the Melbourne suburb of Moorabbin. Patients Two hundred and one people aged 60 years or over who were not known to be hearing impaired. Outcome measure Results of air‐conduction audiometry. Results Seventy‐five of the 201 people had undiagnosed hearing loss (37%). The assessments of hearing ability by the patients and their relations were good predictors of the outcome of the audiogram ( P < 0.001). Occupational history, medical history and physical examination were poor predictors ( P > 0.05). Conclusions The use of audiometry for screening for hearing impairment in older general practice patients is likely to have a high yield. A large proportion of people with abnormal audiograms will, however, refuse a hearing aid.