title: Hearing and Quality of Life Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults.
abstract: Hearing loss is a common health concern in older people, and the prevalence of hearing loss increases with aging. Poor hearing may cause difficulties in everyday life situations and reduce quality of life (QoL). The aim of this study was to assess the associations between different domains of QoL (physical, psychological, social, and environmental), perceived hearing difficulties in various everyday situations, and audiometrically measured hearing level among community-dwelling older adults.
  
  
  
  Cross-sectional analysis of 76- to 91-year-old community-dwelling adults. Data on QoL (WHO Quality of Life Assessment short version) and perceived hearing difficulties were gathered via postal questionnaires (n = 706) and screening pure-tone audiometry was performed at the participants' homes for a random subsample (n = 161). Data were analyzed with linear regression models.
  
  
  
  Factor analysis on the perceived hearing difficulties questionnaire identified three dimensions: speech hearing, socioemotional effects, and spatial hearing. All the perceived hearing difficulty factors, but not the pure-tone audiometry results, were significantly associated with poorer values in all the QoL domains and the total QoL score.
  
  
  
  Perceived hearing difficulties in various everyday life situations are more strongly associated with older adults' QoL than audiometrically assessed hearing impairment.
authors.affiliation: Gerontology Research Center, Department of Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Finland.
authors.forename: Hannele
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Polku
authors.affiliation: Gerontology Research Center, Department of Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Finland.
authors.forename: Tuija M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Mikkola
authors.affiliation: Gerontology Research Center, Department of Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Finland.
authors.forename: Merja
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rantakokko
authors.affiliation: Gerontology Research Center, Department of Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Finland.
authors.forename: Erja
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Portegijs
authors.affiliation: Gerontology Research Center, Department of Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Finland.
authors.forename: Timo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Törmäkangas
authors.affiliation: Gerontology Research Center, Department of Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Finland.
authors.forename: Taina
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rantanen
authors.affiliation: Gerontology Research Center, Department of Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Finland.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Viljanen
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001299:Audiometry; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D057187:Independent Living / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires