Daily life consequences of hearing loss in the elderly.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the daily life consequences of hearing loss in older adults and to explore the influences of hearing loss, subjective assessment of health and general life satisfaction, gender, age and marital status.


METHODS
Eighty-four participants, each older than 65 years, were consecutively recruited from a hospital waiting list for outpatient hearing aid fitting. All participants were assessed by pure-tone audiometry. Daily life consequences of hearing loss were measured using the Hearing Disability and Handicap Scale, which assesses perceived activity limitation and participation restriction. Another questionnaire was used to measure self-assessed health and life satisfaction.


RESULTS
Adjusted linear regression analysis showed that activity limitation was significantly associated with increased hearing loss (p = 0.028) and decreased health (p = 0.009), and participation restriction with lower estimated life satisfaction (p ≤ 0.001). Gender, age and marital status were not determinant factors for perceived activity limitation or participation restriction.


CONCLUSIONS
Daily life consequences of hearing loss, health conditions and general life satisfaction are closely related. These findings indicate that health factors and psychosocial aspects should be emphasised as a natural part of audiological rehabilitation.
ENT Department, Lovisenberg Diakonale Hospital, Oslo, Norway. jorunn.solheim@lds.no
Jorunn
J
Solheim
Kari J
KJ
Kværner
Eva-Signe
ES
Falkenberg
D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009664:Norway; D011788:Quality of Life; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires