Auditory rehabilitation: needs and realities on long-stay wards for elderly people.
A survey was made of the problem of age-related hearing impairment within a sample of National Health Service long-stay wards for elderly people. Detailed assessment of hearing was completed for 188 residents derived from 15 long-stay wards, located within nine Scottish hospitals. The sample residents were more than four times as likely to need a hearing aid as their contemporaries in the general population. Of the 131 people considered to be potential hearing aid candidates, 103 (78%) demonstrated a positive attitude towards hearing aids ownership. Medical policies on the study wards were not considered sensitive to the needs of the hearing-impaired; screening was haphazard and specialist referral problematic.
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D006310:Hearing Aids; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000451:nursing; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008134:Long-Term Care; D008297:Male