title: Unmet hearing health care needs: the Beaver Dam offspring study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We evaluated the use of hearing health care services (hearing testing and hearing aids) by adults aged 21 to 84 years.
  
  
  METHODS
  Hearing was tested and medical and hearing health histories were obtained as part of the Beaver Dam Offspring Study between 2005 and 2008 (n = 3285, mean age = 49 years).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the cohort, 34% (55% of participants aged ≥ 70 years) had a hearing test in the past 5 years. In multivariate modeling, older age, male gender, occupation, occupational noise, and having talked with a doctor about a hearing problem were independently associated with having had a hearing test in the past 5 years. Hearing aid use was low among participants with a moderate to severe hearing impairment (22.5%) and among participants with a hearing handicap (8.6%), as determined by the Hearing Handicap Inventory.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Data support the need for improvement in hearing health care. Hearing aids' effectiveness is limited if patients do not acquire them or do not use them once acquired. Future research should focus on developing effective strategies for moving patients from diagnosis to treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Population Health Sciences, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI 53726, USA. snash@wisc.edu
authors.forename: Scott D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Nash
authors.forename: Karen J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Cruickshanks
authors.forename: Guan-Hua
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Barbara E K
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Klein
authors.forename: Ronald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Klein
authors.forename: F Javier
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Nieto
authors.forename: Theodore S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Tweed
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015331:Cohort Studies; D012048:Correction of Hearing Impairment; D005260:Female; D006296:Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006310:Hearing Aids / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006311:Hearing Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006320:Hearing Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020380:Needs Assessment; D009623:Noise, Occupational; D015995:Prevalence; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014922:Wisconsin; D055815:Young Adult