title: Prevalence & characteristics of severe and profound hearing loss in adults in a UK National Health Service clinic.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To estimate the prevalence of severe and profound hearing loss in a clinical population and to report the audiological and hearing-aid characteristics for this group, as well as outcome measures from use of hearing aids.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective observational study initially, followed by a postal Glasgow health status inventory (GHSI) to establish the patients functional outcomes.
  
  
  METHODS
  A clinical database of 32 781 cases was interrogated from which 2199 cases of severe /profound hearing loss were identified. From these, an adult sample stratified in terms of age and gender of n = 302 was contacted.
  
  
  RESULTS
  An estimated 6.7% of the local clinical population and 0.7% of the general population were found to have hearing > 70 dB averaged over 0.5, 1, and 2 kHz. Most patients were fitted with bilateral hearing aids, using a non-linear prescription, and as a group they reported a high level of social support.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study has estimated the prevalence of severe and profound hearing loss as 6.7% of the clinical population, and 0.7% of the general population. This is consistent with previous work, although it probably underestimates the prevalence. Further work is indicated to strengthen the estimate.
authors.affiliation: Hearing Link, Eastbourne, UK. laura.turton@hearinglink.org
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Turton
authors.forename: Pauline
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001299:Audiometry; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D012048:Correction of Hearing Impairment / Q000523:psychology; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006310:Hearing Aids; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital; D019986:Persons with Hearing Disabilities / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012944:Social Support; D013222:State Medicine; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult